Mike and Emily A Very Fine Line Part One
by meagameaghan
Summary: Mike and Emily have always been best friends, tottering on the edge of becoming something more. But what will happen when a new Nighlock enters the picture whose specialty is causing heartbreak? Will Mike and Emily's friendship and budding romance last?
1. Chapter 1

**Mike and Emily – A Very Fine Line**

This story is from the point of view of Emily. Mike and Emily have always been friends… tottering on the verge of being something more. What will happen to her relationship with Mike when a Nighlock comes whose specialty is heartbreak? Will their friendship and blossoming romance survive?

I was sleeping when the Gap sensor went off. It was a rather rude awakening, and it had been quite a nice dream too. I groaned and pulled myself out of bed.

"Come on Em! Hurry it up! This'll be golden!" yelled Antonio. I couldn't resist smiling to myself. No matter what time of time of day… he was always ready to go. I wished that I could say the same thing about Mike. I rushed into his room clapping and shouting and making the biggest racket that I possibly could. It was no use… Trying to wake Mike was like trying to wake the dead. I tickled him, jumped on the bed, shouted into his ear… nothing worked. I finally went to my last resort. "Mike. If you don't get up right now, I'll tell Mia that you're feeling sick and that you specifically requested her chicken and brussel sprout soup with EXTRA syrup. He shot out of that bed like a bullet. "Wait for me guys!" he yelled. I rolled my eyes. Typical Mike…

When we got the sight of the Nighlock attack, all seemed calm. There was no noise at all. Then suddenly… there was hysterical wailing; a sure sign that the Nighlock was nearby. After following the noise, I saw a woman laying on the ground wailing and a Nighlock leaning over with a look of pure dark glee upon his heart shaped face, which had a long thick gash across it. "What did you do her? " Jayden asked accusingly. The Nighlock's twisted smile spread halfway across his face. "Nothing." He replied innocently. "I merely told her the truth." I shuddered remembering Negatron, the Nighlock whose insults could cause both intense physical and emotional pain. "Well we're onto you!" Mike shouted. "We know you're game, and your words can't hurt us. "

"Oh really?" the Nighlock smirked. "You see… I don't think you'll agree after…" Mike had already started to charge towards him, but in a flash, the Nighlock was behind him. "She'll never love you. " He whispered harshly. In one moment the fight went out of Mike's face like an extinguished candle and he touched his heart looking down puzzled. "Yesssss. You know whom I'm talking about… What are you to her? You are nothing. NOTHING." Mike clutched his chest and gasped in wheezing breaths as if each word was another hit to the chest and physically pained him. I narrowed my eyes confused. Who could this monster be talking about that was causing Mike so much pain? Did he have a secret girlfriend that I didn't know about? "Why would she even look at YOU when she can have whatever ranger she wants? Who would choose you over him…" He gestured to Jayden at this who was standing there looking dumbfounded. "Yesssss. HE is the fearless leader; the dark and mysterious one. And what are you? You are the joker, the goofball, and she will NEVER even look at you."

"YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" I sobbed. "LET HIM GO! LET HIM GO YOU BIG BULLY!"

"Stop. " Mike moaned. "Please."

"Fine." The Nighlock grinned evilly. In a flash he was beside me. "What about you sweetheart? What is it that you love most in the world?" I gasped. "I…"

Mike was trembling now. "No. Not her. Anyone but her. Please." Ignoring him, the Nighlock cupped his hands as if he had something trapped in there. My curiosity getting the better of me, I took a few cautious steps forward. A ball of light manifested in front of me swirling around rapidly. I caught small fragments of images in there. I saw my sister lying in bed coughing, myself practicing with the sword, playing the flute, Antonio preparing his grilled sea bass, Mia comforting me and tending to my wounds after a battle, Kevin putting his arm around me protectively in a big brother like fashion, Jayden smiling at me and telling me how proud he was of me, Mike rumpling my hair affectionately, my sister smiling at me her eyes shining with tears telling me how I was the true Samurai of the family. In a trance-like haze I stepped forward, drawn to it like iron to a magnet. "Yessssssss." The Nighlock crooned in my ear. "That's it. Goooooood. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS." I reached out with trembling fingers to touch it. Suddenly a shout pierced my unconsciousness and shattered my trance.

"Emily! NO!" I felt Mike's arms go around me as he pushed me out of the way. I opened my eyes just in time to see Mike get hit with the ball of light in my place, his eyes wide with surprise. His mouth opened as if he were about to tell me something and them there was a flash and Mike's face went blank.

Mike fell to the ground at this and out of instinct I rushed towards him. This could not go on any longer. I was not going to see him reduced to a sobbing mess like that woman. The Nighlock chuckled. "Gooooooood." He hissed. And then in a flash he was gone.

"Mike." I shook him desperately. "MIKE!" I shouted. My hands shook. This was all my fault. If I just hadn't – Suddenly his eyelids fluttered open.

"Mike." I whispered, "Are- are you okay?" I watched his eye blink rapidly trying to take in the scene before him. I held his head in my lap, afraid to breathe. Then suddenly, a look I had never seen before crossed Mike's face. He looked at me with a mixture of pure hatred and disgust.

"Get off me you miserable excuse for a Samurai!" he snarled at me. I tried to smooth his hair back from his face. "Mike. What are you-? He leaped off of me as if I were toxic. Smoothing out the rumples in his clothing, he surveyed the rest of the rangers with a sneer pasted on his usually jovial face.

"To think I was ever friends with this gang of losers. " He snorted. "His eyes focused in on Kevin like a missile programmed for its target. "All you do is nag and complain that I'm not working hard enough. Just because you're upset that you will never get to be in the Olympics now doesn't mean that you need to make everyone's life as miserable as your own pathetic wasted one." He spun around now on Mia. "And you. You think you're so perfect in every which way don't you? Well would you like to know the reason that you have such a good bond with Dayu? One day you are going to be just like her. A lonely old monster, never to be married, for who would ever love you. Oh and another thing… YOU CAN'T COOK!"

"Mike, dude, calm down…" Antonio started. "You don't even deserve to be here!" Mike cried spinning on him. "Do you think that a game you used to play with Jayden when you were kids will make up for your complete incompetence and lack of experience?

"Mike! That's enough!" Jayden shouted in his commanding voice. "I'm just getting started." Mike snarled. "You just think you are so great don't you? Well I have a news flash for you buddy! You're not as good as your father and he DIED trying to master that sealing symbol, so when your time comes where will you be?" He spun around satisfied as if he actually relished causing pain to his fellow rangers. The others meanwhile were looking at him with a mixture of hurt and confusion. Mia looked as if she were about to cry.

"Mike." I whispered putting a hand on his shoulder. "What has happened to you?" He shrugged off my hand in revulsion. "You." He whispered. "And to think that I once…" He shook his head decisively. "Well not anymore." He spun on me his eyes blazing with a pure and fiery hatred. "I hate you Emily. I don't think I've ever despised a living creature as much as I despise you right now. You are nothing but a weak and stupid girl who will never be as good as her sister and I hope that she makes a miraculous recovery just so you can be shipped back out to wherever the heck you came from and continue with your dull and boring life AS FAR FROM ME AS POSSIBLE!" On this last insult he turned and sped away leaving me in the dust with nothing but a confused and broken heart.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE.

What happens next when the rangers go about trying to cure Mike? Will some bottled up feelings be put out in the open? And will someone take it two far?


	2. Chapter 2

"That Nighlock is a heartbreaker." Mentor announced back at the Shiba House. "He takes whatever objects or people that his victims love most in the world and makes he or she hate them ten times as powerfully. And when there is nothing left for the person to care about, their heart breaks and they enter, The State of Hopelessness."

I shuddered thinking about that woman once again, clinging on to the ground sobbing hysterically as if the very fabric of her world was being ripped apart. I pictured Mike. The boy that was always there to make me laugh and pick me up and dust me off when I fell. He was a smiling face and an ever-present source of warmth and laughter. He had been with me from the beginning. I remembered how he high fived me in battle, how he would always make jokes to cheer me up how he carried me home after…

I snapped myself out of it shaking my head furiously. "We can NOT let that happen to Mike!" I shouted. "We- we- we just CAN'T!" I was shaking like a leaf barely holding back the tears that were burning my eyes like liquid fire. I blinked them back surprised at how my chest hurt at the thought of losing him. Why did he have such an affect on me? All the rangers were looking at me seeming concerned.

"We locked him in his room." Mia whispered quietly. " Jayden put a symbol on it so he can't leave unless someone releases him. You can try talking to him if you want." All the rangers were looking at me expectantly. I looked down and blushed.

"Why me?" I whispered. I felt their eyes on me, and my face grew hot with their stares. Wordlessly I got up and left the room and headed straight for where Mike was being kept. I barged in not even bothering to knock, terrified of what I might find. When I opened the door I saw Mike standing there, breaking all of his video games and tossing them in the trash with a vicious snarl still perched upon his face.

I squealed in disbelief. "MIKE? What are you doing? Stop!

He looked up from a fraction of a second. When he caught my eyes he looked away as if I repulsed him. He groaned. "Ugh. It's you. Couldn't they have sent someone else?" My bottom lip quivered but I took in a long slow breath trying to remember what my sister said about letting their words roll off of me like raindrops roll off of a rock. But this was not just any bully who had decided to make fun of me. This was MIKE. My best friend. My comrade. The one who was always there for me.

"I-I brought you pizza." I stuttered. "M-Mia wanted to make you soup but I talked her out of it. I said that it you loved it so much it would just upset you more." He stared at me a moment in disbelief not moving. Then in one fluid and graceful motion he knocked the entire box off the table and sent it sprawling into a wall.

"Get this crap away from me!" he shouted. I jumped back a little bit, slightly startled. Mike glared at me a moment as if waiting to see what I would do. My bottom lip quivered slightly and my hands started shaking. Then I sighed and went over to where the ruined pizza lay on the floor and got on my hands and knees to start picking it up. Mike stared at me with a frightening indifference that terrified me even more than his rage did. Eventually he pulled his gaze away form me.

"So sickeningly sweet." He sneered. And then he went back to destroying his videogames. I refused to make eye contact with him and tried to focus on cleaning the mess. I looked down in shock to see my hands trembling and my vision blurring in tears. The colors of the ground seemed to blur together and I felt the tears burning at my eyes like liquid fire, fighting to get out. I blinked several times fast to force them back. I reminded myself that each tear shed was another step closer to Nighlock victory. I could not let that happen, no matter how much I worried about Mike.


	3. Chapter 3

I had to be strong, for me, for Mike, for the other rangers, and for my sister…

I snapped myself out of my daze of self-pity at the sound of Mike breaking more of his videogames and tossing them in the trash. I took a deep breath and fought to keep my voice level and calm.

"Mike. Please. Stop. You love these games." I whispered pitifully. At this Mike turned around and looked at me again with that blood-chilling indifference. After a long pause he sighed.

"I used to love a lot of things Emily." He said looking at me, his loveable and goofy face filled with pain and remorse. "And then you know what I realized?" I let out a breath of air that I wasn't aware I had been holding and shook my head, by blonde curls bouncing about. Mike winced and turned away as if the sight of me physically pained him. In a low hiss he whispered, "I realized that all of it is nothing of importance. These games… maybe if I would have had the sense to stop playing them I could have been as good as Jayden. Did you ever think of that?" I shook my head vigorously. "And pizza… maybe if I would have stopped eating it I could have been as strong as Kevin or as fast as Antonio. Did your thick, dumb-blonde head with those ridiculous curls ever think about that?" I shook my head again, too speechless to do anything else.

"But- But-But…" I stuttered.

"SPIT IT OUT YOU BOTTLE BLONDE BIMBO!" Mike shouted.

"But… why do you care? So what if Jayden is better? So what if Kevin is stronger? So what if Antonio is faster? That's not you! You're the goofy one! The funny one! The only one I would want to comfort me if I scraped my knee, or did something stupid or… broke my heart." He winced again at this clenching his fist and gritting his teeth. "Do you think that I care that my sister would have been a better ranger than I'll ever be? Do you think that I care that Mia is so much prettier that me, and smarter than me and better at fighting than me? Do you –?"

Mike slapped me across the face hard before I could even finish. "Never say ANYTHING like that again." He snarled.

"Why do you care?" I replied dryly, surprised at how bitter I sounded. "It's pretty obvious that you don't give a damn about anything any more including me."

At this he slapped me again even harder. The force of it sent me sprawling into his collection of videogames, crushing the ones that he hadn't gotten to destroy yet.

"You can accuse me of a lot of things Emily. You can accuse me a being a bad samurai. You can accuse me of not training enough, of being lazy, not practicing symbol power enough but don't you DARE accuse me of not caring about you. I care about you more than you know. I care about you so much that it HURTS. And I care about you a hell of a lot more than you care about me."

My hand was already on the doorknob, ready to leave, when I heard this last statement. Something about the way that he had said it made my blood run cold. My curiosity overwhelming me, I forced back the liquid fire that pricked at my tears ducts and turned at him refusing to meet his eyes. "Why do you say that?" I whispered.

"Because you got hit too." Mikes stated simply. "I was too late. I SAW the ball of light hit you. It hit the both of us. And yet somehow… you're still here talking to me like nothing has changed. And you know why? Because nothing has. You obviously don't care about me enough for the curse to affect you." He said miserably.

Unable to stay in that room a moment longer I forced open the door as hard as I could. I needed to get out of there. I didn't know what would happen to me if I didn't. But as I was leaving the memory of that woman, huddled into a little ball, clinging to nothing because there was nothing left to hold on to haunted me. I needed to give him something to hold onto even if it was going to keep him with me for just a moment longer. With one foot out the door I turned around and looked at him, tears stinging my eyes. "

"Did you ever consider Mike," I whispered, "that the reason I haven't changed is that I care about you too much too let this affect me?"


	4. Chapter 4

My breath came in little gasps as I raced to the door. I felt like a volcano about to burst. There was something stirring inside me that was deep dark and terrifying. It made me want to throw myself to the floor kicking and screaming and rip the hair from my head.

"Stop." I heard a voice so strong and commanding that for a moment, I thought that it was Jayden's. It was enough to make me stop in my tracks, my hand faltering on the door handle for only a moment. The voice was softer this time. It was weaker, almost as if it were a desperate plea. "Em, please stop." I spun around in shock to see Mike gripping the bed handle, his knuckles turning white from the exertion. He was hunched over and gritting his teeth. Sweat dripped from his brow. Everything about him and the way he was standing screamed danger and instability but his eyes were soft and teary. "Em please I need you."

Those were the words that I had been waiting for all day, ever since the curse had first been put on him. His desperation was almost enough to make me collapse into a fit of sobs right then and there. His pain was so much worse than the anger and hatred. It was even worse than the chilling indifference. "M-M-M-Mike? Is that really you?"

He offered me a weak smile that seemed slightly forced. But it was still Mike's smile. "In the flesh. Hi Em." He chuckled. At this I couldn't take it anymore. The tears that had been gathering in my eyes flooded over and before I had time to think I found myself racing to him. Suddenly I was in his arms and holding him tight, terrified of letting go.

I heard a low groan come from Mike's throat. He hugged me back tightly but even as he did this he shut his eyes and grimaced as if my hug physically pained him. His heart thumped powerfully in his chest and sounded like thunder.

I stepped back suddenly a look of shock and horror upon my face. My eyes grew wide. "Oh! Did I hurt you?"

"It's fine." He grimaced. "I mean… yeah, a little. No more than usual." I cocked my head to the side confused at this.

"What do you-? I need to go tell the others!" I raced with the door only to have Mike grab my arm. For a moment Mike's eyes blazed with anger.

"NO!" Then he shook himself out of it. "No." He said it more quietly this time. "Please Em. I- I need someone to stay with me for a while." I hesitated. Everything about the way that Mike was acting was warning me that he was extremely unstable. "Please Em." he begged again. "Just for a little while. "I – I'm afraid that I might wake up hating you again. And I don't want that. Do you Em?"

Oooh. The guilt card. He was good. I sighed. I didn't want that. I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to be normal again. I wanted everything to be back to the way that it was before. I wanted… I didn't know what I wanted. Before I knew what I was doing I sat down on his bed next to him with a sigh. "All right." I groaned. "But just for a little while."

And then came that dazzling smile that made everything worth it. "Thanks Em."

**I would like to note at this time that I am exactly one half of the way done with the story. What happens next when everyone's true feelings gets thrust out it the open? Will the shock and stress be too great for Mike to bear? Will he suffer a relapse? (Duh!) **

**SPOILER ALERT: MIKE AND EMILY KISS NEXT CHAPTER.**


	5. Chapter 5

A few hours later Mike and I were stretched out across the floor laughing hysterically for God knows what reason. Maybe out of relief that he was finally okay. Maybe out of fear of what was to come. Or maybe for a different reason entirely. He was lying on the hardwood floors of his room, looking down at me smiling. I looked back up at him beaming. My head rested on his stomach, using his rock hard abs as a (very uncomfortable) pillow. My bouncy blonde curls billowed out from underneath me. Empty pizza boxes lay scattered around us. (I had called a shocked Jayden a few hours earlier after the team had finished defeating the Nighlock and asked him to bring us some.) _We look like one of those couples in those teen magazines or something. The kind that I used to look at longingly and wish to be like. I always thought that those couples were so happy… If only I knew…_

"What are you thinking about?" I looked up to see Mike's big intense green eyes that always took my breath away gazing down at me.

"N-n-n-nothing." I stuttered. I shoved him playfully. "Besides, you already asked your question. Don't go out of turn." I giggled. For the past few hours we had been playing a question game. One person asked the other a question of their choosing and the other person had to respond with one hundred percent complete honesty. It was a game that Mike had come up with to distract himself from the pain in his chest that came with trying to fight the curse off.

Mike chuckled. "So I did. All right, have it your way! Your turn."

"Hmmm…" I thought aloud. I really was at a loss of what to ask him. In these past few hours we had asked each other pretty much everything that there was to possibly ask. We had covered the basics: favorite movie, (Transformers vs. The Notebook) favorite TV show (Deadliest Warrior vs. Glee) favorite book (BOTH OF US LIKE HARRY POTTER!:D) etc. We had also covered more personal questions: Celebrity Crush (Megan Fox vs. Taylor Lautner) Biggest Role Model (Chuck Norris vs. My Sister) and Most Embarrassing moment (I don't really want to share)…D:

"What's your favorite color?" I finally blurted out. He raised an eyebrow at me looking shocked.

"Green of course." He responded without a moment's hesitation. "What did you think that it would be?"

I shrugged, blushing, and adjusted my position so that I could look at him more clearly. I yawned and his chest did that weird lurch thing again like it does when he gets hurt in a battle. "I dunno. I guess that it's different for me." I sighed. "I wasn't supposed to be a ranger. I wasn't raised with the expectation that my life would revolve all around the ranger lifestyle. I guess what I'm trying to say is… I wasn't brainwashed like the rest of you were. I was free to be my own person.

"I see." His tone was light but he was staring at me intently. He shrugged. "So then what is your favorite color?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I've always liked green." I mumbled looking down afraid to meet his eyes. He raised an eyebrow at me smirking. "What? It's true! It's comforting to me. Not like lime green or electric green or greenish yellow. Those colors are just annoying. It's like they can't make up their minds about whether they want to be green or yellow. I like the green of the grass on the fields at home. The green of the earth. That green… it's just home to me." Mike had a quick gasp of breath as if he had just been punched in the stomach. He opened his mouth as if he was going to tell me something but nothing came out. I raised my eyes to his again and realized how uncomfortably close his face was to mine. His eyes looked especially green right then… breathtaking actually. I found myself forgetting what I was about to say; speech died on my tongue.

"Like your eyes." I found myself saying. "That's the kind of green that I like. I've always found your eyes very pretty… beautiful really. I was amazed that I had never seen it before. Bright intense green eyes framed by long dark lashes, smooth clear tan skin that wonderfully contrasted his bright white crystal clear smile, and a body that was as lean and hard as the stones that I had control over.

"Your turn." Mike said awkwardly breaking the silence.

"Ummm…. What was your most terrifying moment?" I asked him.

He blinked at me again like he was at a loss for words. He sat there thinking for a long time. Finally he said "Remember that time that you got your spirit sucked?"

I nodded eagerly, not trusting myself to speak. "Was that your scariest moment. When the monster stole my spirit?" I shuddered just thinking about it.

He shook his head. "No." He said after some time. "I'm talking about when you woke up?"

"You mean… you didn't want me to come back?" I asked sounding confused and heart broken.

"No." He said again. "I'm talking about the first time you woke up." I shuddered again. I remembered the day well. Too well actually. Feeling so cold… feeling dead inside… and empty… like I had no soul. "That moment when you first opened your eyes…" Mike continued. "When you looked me in the eyes and told me that you weren't going to make it…" His voice trembled a little bit. "My heart stopped in my chest. I… I felt like all hope was gone. The thought that you would never wake up again, would never smile at me again, would never look at me with those big brown eyes …"

"But… I did!" I interrupted with wide eyes. Mike offered me a weak smile.

"Yeah. You did." He agreed.

I went to go sit next to him and put my head on his shoulder. His heart did that whole weird lurching thing again. He touched his chest in confusion and groaned. I sat up suddenly alert and worried. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. Fine." He hissed through gritted teeth. He closed his eyes until the pain subsided and he finally calmed down "Besides," he said attempting a grin and only half succeeding, "You… already asked your question."

I stepped away from him biting my lip nervously. "Yeah… I did. Your turn."

"Uhh… same question you asked me." He said looking distracted.

I groaned. "Mike! That's boring! Ask me an original question!"

Suddenly his eyes were blazing. "Can't you see I'm struggling to not rip your stupid beautiful perfect blonde face off!" he shouted. I gave a little squeak and jumped back in fear.

Mike's eyes grew wide. "I didn't mean to…" He broke off abruptly and put his head in his hands moaning softly.

"I'm so sorry Em." He whispered.

"Shhhhh. It's okay." I murmured moving slightly closer to him and putting my hand on his back.

"Em… what's happening to me?" he asked.

"It's okay." I reassured him. I gave him a big hug. "I promise you it will be okay." But I didn't know that. How could I promise him that when I couldn't even understand what was going on inside his mind, let alone explain it to him?

"Who's the person that you love most in the world?" He asked after some time.

"Hmmm?" I responded absently.

"That's my question. Who do you love most in the world?" He asked again.

"Well…" I started. I knew what I would say. I knew what I _should_ say. But looking into those big green eyes, I found that I couldn't do it. What was wrong with me? Why did the name that was forming on my lips not begin with an S, but with an M?

I couldn't do that to him, I thought to myself. It wasn't fair to him. If, for whatever reason, just putting my head on his shoulder sent him into frenzy, imagine what saying that would do to him.

"Serena!" I blurted out before I could stop myself "My… my… sister. That's who I love most." Mike raised an eyebrow slightly taken aback and amused by my sudden outburst.

He shook his head chuckling softly to himself. "You are too cute Em. Serena sure is lucky to have a sister like you."

I nodded not trusting myself to say anything else. My face was as red as a tomato. "Thanks." I mumbled. "So what about you? What do you love most in the world?"

Mike stared at me intently for a long time. After a long pause he finally said "You really don't know do you?"

I cocked my head to the side looking confused. "Know what?"

Mike went on as if he didn't hear me. "I just… always thought that you knew and that you just didn't care."

I was starting to get frustrated. "Know what?"

Suddenly Mike hit the floor screaming in pain.

"Oh my God! Mike!" I ran over to him to help him.

"DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T COME ANYWHERE NEAR ME!" He shouted. I took a step back uncertainly. What was I supposed to do?

"But – but how can I help?" I asked with my voice quavering.

"I'll… I'll be fine. Just give me a minute." He got this out between gasps. His heart rate eventually calmed and he got eerily silent. He refused to look at me.

"Mike?" I asked nervously.

"I'm fine Em." He responded still refusing to look at me. "It's just… so hard sometimes." I nodded silently not wanting to speak. He was so tense that even the sound of my voice could set him off the edge. "I hear these… voices. They tell me that I'm unimportant. That I'm insignificant. None of you would miss me if I were gone… or dead. I'm nothing. I'm the only one that doesn't contribute anything to the team. Jayden is the fearless leader, Kevin is the dedicated and focused one who keeps all from killing each other, Mia is the responsible one… and than there's you."

He looked at me with an emotion that I can't describe after saying this. "You don't know this Em, but you're the most important one of all. You are the heart of the team. You are our spirit. Just like a body can't function without a heart, we wouldn't work without you. You are the one we can always depend upon to smile for us and cry for us and be there for us after a hard day. We need you Em… more than anyone." He opened his mouth like he was going to say something else but shook his head and stopped. "They don't need me."

"You're wrong." I interrupted. "You are NOT nothing. If I am the heart of the team, then you are the soul. You are the light, the life, the laughter. I would go insane from the hard burden that we as samurais have to bear… unless you were there to crack a joke every once in a while and TEACH me how to smile. A heart won't beat unless it has a reason to. Unless there is something… or someone the makes it function. We need you Mike. More than you know."

Mike cracked a weak smile. "I wish I could remember that. But I don't know if I'm going to wake up tomorrow a man… or a monster. And that thought… terrifies me."

I gave him a quick and comforting squeeze and felt him flinch. It was so frustrating that everything that I tried to do to help him just made things worse. I was always making things worse! I was always making a mess of things! I HATED myself. I blinked in shock. I was always hard on myself, but I had never gone as for to say that I HATED myself. What was wrong with me?

"I – I'm sorry that I can't do anything to help." I stuttered. "We – We'll find an antidote soon. I KNOW we will."

At this I saw Mike smile. And it was HIS smile. It was pure and sweet and genuine and everything that I… admired… about him. "Em… you ARE my antidote." He said lightly placing a kiss on my forehead. I just stared at him for a moment. And then I broke down hysterically sobbing.

Mike looked taken aback. But he gently wiped my tears. "Why are you crying?" He murmured gently.

"I HATE myself! I'm so sorry Mike! This is ALL my fault! I HATE myself!" I shouted again.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey." Mike whispered gathering me into his arms. "Don't beat yourself up about this. It was NOT your fault. It was MY choice. And I wouldn't take it back for ANYTHING." His voice got quiet all of a sudden. "There are many things that I regret Em. I regret not training harder. I regret not taking samurai training seriously and trying to be as good as Jayden or Kevin. But something that I will NEVER regret… is saving you. I will ALWAYS save you no matter what the cost. And that is something that I will NEVER regret.

I tried to speak. I tried to thank him. I tried to say something reassuring. But for the first time in my life I was truly speechless. Words could not express how I felt at that moment. "I –" I stuttered. But no words came out. Mike just smiled at me. He gave me a dazzling, wonderful, beautiful understanding smile.

"It's okay you don't need to say anything right now." He said grinning. I just nodded with tears in my eyes that were slowly overflowing and dripping down to my cheeks. But he just kept smiling and tilted my face up to his. His face was almost unbearably close. "You know… you're really pretty when you cry." He murmured. "But please stop."

"Why?" I sniffled. "Does it make you feel bad?

"No." He replied. "It's because… I like it. And I'm not sure if that's because… it makes me know that you care or because… of the monster that I'm becoming.

My eyes grew wide, a terrifying idea dawning upon me. I opened up my mouth to say something but all that came out was a gasp. And before I could stop myself my lips were on his. All that I could think to myself was _Stop_ and _Why are you doing this?_ I was such a terrible person. As if Mike's life wasn't hard enough without all of this confusion. Why did he have to have those stupid big green beautiful intense smoldering eyes? Why did I kiss him? Why? Why? Why? But still, I whispered "Kiss me." And so he did. All of the pain I was putting him through… it was MY FAULT. My fault. My fault. My fault.

But he held me so gently. And he kissed me so tenderly. And slowly, I felt my fears melt away and roll of my like rain drops roll of a stone on a rainy day.

**Sneak Peek: Next chapter form Mike's POV! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone! Sorry this has taken me so incredibly long to write. I've been going through a pretty hard time lately. There's been a lot of stress from school and parents and the looming threat of the future. I've been doubting my writing ability and I've been really insecure with showing anybody my work lately. Welcome to the mind of a teenage girl. Truthfully, the rest of this story has been floating around in my mind for months now; I just haven't had the courage or inspiration to write it all down until now. I promise you that the story will be complete by the end of the month and I will make up for the neglect that I have given it. I apologize for keeping you all waiting. The support that you guys have given my story and your faith in my inability to leave a story unfinished really has reminded me why I love writing so much.

So now that I have finally snapped out of my bizarre and scary world where I can no longer write about the perfection that is Memily, I bring you, without further ado, the rest of the story. So here we go.


	7. Chapter 7

_ Stupid. Stupid idiot. Stupid, reckless, impulsive idiot. Why in the hell did I do that? Is there something wrong with me? Do I like causing myself pain?_ All these questions raced through my mind moments after I felt her lips touch mine. For about a minute, I just felt pure shock, and then the pain set in. Awful, soul-crushing, mind-numbing pain that threatened to rip me apart inside. And it was all her fault.

Well technically it was my fault. It had been a dumb idea to kiss her from the start. I mean, how in the hell did that even make sense to begin with? Problem: I feel like I'm going to explode into a screaming flaming mess whenever I get within five feet of this girl. Solution: Make out with the girl. _I am just such a freaking genius._

She just looked so vulnerable and scared. She was worried. For me. And that touched something in me. I wanted, no I _needed _to comfort her somehow. _So your solution was to risk biting her head head off? _I thought dryly to myself. _Once again I repeat, genius._

Why did I still care how Emily felt anyway? Wasn't that the point of this Nighlock's curse? To get me to _stop _caring so much about Emily. Literally five seconds ago, I was sitting here moaning in pain because she was too close to me. Two minutes ago I hated everything about this girl. The way she looked at me so full of trust, as if she somehow knew that I could never really find it in myself to hurt her. The way that she squeezed my hand as if she could somehow hold onto me so tight that I could never slip back into the darkness. The way that her eyes sparkled when they were filling up with tears. All of it. All of it filled me with intense, indescribable, unimaginable pain. It made me just want to slap her across that pretty face and rip all of that beautiful blonde hair out of her head.

And yet I begged her to stay with me when she threatened to leave. Whimpering, cowering in her arms as if she could protect me from the monster inside of me. Pathetic. I asked her to never leave me. And of course, being Emily, naive, stupid, kind and wonderful Emily, she agreed.

Every second of her being with me caused me indescribable anguish. Because every time I opened my mouth, to tell her how much I cared about her, or how much she meant to me, I would collapse. My insides would seize up as if somehow yanked my heart out of my chest, flipped it inside out and then returned it to me. Or worse, the words themselves would be twisted. I would start screaming at her, listing all of the things that I loved about her that the stupid curse made her think that I hated.

And her face would break for a minute. For one dreadful moment I would think that she would start to cry. Yet, at the same time, I longed for it. I wanted to know that she cared about me. That, despite the monster I was becoming, she still cared enough for me to have an impact on her. I wanted reassurance that Mia was right, that I could hurt Emily more than any Nighlock could.

But she always stayed strong. She would always close her eyes and take a deep breath, letting my words roll right off of her like raindrops. I could almost hear her repeating that silly little rhyme her sister taught her. _Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. _And then she would be fine.

I felt myself getting more and more frustrated. Frustrated that every time I opened my mouth to apologize or thank her, words that weren't mine would spill out of my mouth. Frustrated at how she forgave me so easily. Frustrated at how I couldn't seem to get to her. Frustrated at how little she must care about me because, if the roles were reversed, I know I would be reduced to a sobbing mess right now. Frustrated at how I couldn't save her and frustrated that she didn't need saving. Frustrated that despite my obvious failure to save her fro my curse, it didn't seem to affect her at all. Frustrated at how much stronger than me she was.

Most of all, I was frustrated because I knew the truth. Unlike Emily, who was so confused at why this was happening to us, I knew the exact reason that I went insane every time I looked at her. I knew why it was so much worse with her than it was with everyone else. I knew why every smile, every yawn, every laugh, every tear threatened to send me over the edge.

Because, the sad, horrible, pathetic truth was: I was in love with Emily. This sweet little fairy-child had just walked her way into my heart and I was hopelessly head over heels for her. I wasn't really exactly sure when it happened. There were little clues all along the way. Like the way I felt when she took that hit for Jayden in our first battle, jealousy mixed with respect. The way she looked fighting that insult monster. She was so beautiful and fearless, as if his words couldn't touch her. I remembered carrying her home that day. She felt so warm and comfortable on my back. I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, our bodies were made for each other. They were destined to fit together so perfectly like this.

I remember the way she looked in that wedding gown. And I remember the way that my heart stopped in my chest for a moment. Being a guy, of course, my first thought was _Holy shit. I officially love weddings. _Then, when my heart had stopped jumping around in my chest like a kangaroo high on caffeine, a different thought struck me. _She really is beautiful. Oh my God. Mike you idiot, why didn't you realize this sooner? She really is beautiful. I want that. I want her._

Worst of all, I remember the way the world felt like it was ending when that Nighlock stole her spirit. Not because the Sanzu River had gotten into our world, but because she was gone. And I might never see her again. She would never smile at me when she was proud of me again, never grab my hand when she knew that I was sad, would never laugh at me when I did something stupid again. And that thought killed me.

But I remember the way that I felt when she woke up. The way that it seemed that light had somehow been restored to the world. I had to fight every muscle in my body to keep myself from running to her and smothering her to death, when I saw her waiting for us at that doorstep after battle.

There really wasn't a definitive moment when I fell in love with Emily. I don't believe in love at first sight. I think that love at first sight is shallow. I mean, how can you fall in love with a person after knowing nothing about them? Look at how well it worked out for Romeo and Juliet. I believe that love should be a gradual thing. But that was the moment that I realized that I was in love with her. And it scared the shit out of me. What happened if she got injured in battle? What if I couldn't protect her? What if she died? There were a million reasons why I shouldn't love Emily, but my heart just wasn't with the program. There was no denying it. I was in love with Emily.

And the most frustrating part was that everyone knew that but her. And it sucked that I couldn't tell her just as it was starting to get through my thick skull that she might feel the same way.

_I see the way that she looks at you. _Scott had told me before he got on that train. He, just like everyone else was convinced that we were meant for each other. I had never known until that moment that Emily had hidden feelings for me. I couldn't have even guessed that Emily, who was so sweet and innocent, who looked at all of us as if we were here brothers even felt a fraction of what I felt for her.

It kind of felt a little unreal to me. I mean, how are you supposed to react when you find out the girl of your dreams has feelings for you? I guess the logical thing to do would have been to ask her out. Come up with some catchy pick-up line or something. _Am I dead? Cuz' I've just seen an angel. _But no. My brilliant plan was: Do nothing. Why you ask? Because I am a big samurai coward. Fighting an army of Nighlock monsters before breakfast? No problem. Ask out the cutie I'm crushing on who might just be able to kick my ass if all doesn't go well? No flipping way.

All of this ran through my mind in the five seconds after we kissed. Five whole seconds filled with breathless anticipation, like that moment before the fireworks go off at forth of July. Pretty impressive mental monologue for five seconds huh? Well for me, those five seconds seemed to drag on forever. I sat there, as stiff as a stone; waiting. Waiting for myself to finally crack, this one horrible beautiful little colossal mistake to send me over the edge. Waiting to rip her apart into little pieces, no longer able to hold back everything that I felt for her. And all at once, everything changed. _No flipping way. _I thought to myself. And then the fireworks exploded.


	8. Chapter 8

**Fireworks**

meagameaghan

When the fireworks exploded there was silence.

A thousand colors, both light and dark.

My world exploded, and then vanished into

thin little wisps of smoke.

Now memories are all that remain;

constant, ever sturdy, like a rock.

I remember when you were

always beside me.

I feel your presence.

I feel your presence

always beside me.

I remember when you were

constant; ever sturdy, like a rock.

Now memories are all that remain;

thin little wisps of smoke.

My world exploded, and vanished into

A thousand colors, both light and dark,

when the fireworks exploded. There was silence.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys! Here's a sneak preview of what the next chapter will bring…

**Sleepwalking**

meagameaghan

I'm awake.

But I'm not.

My eyes are wide open,

And yet I'm still **asleep.**

All that is happening,

My world shattering before my eyes,

None of it is real.

It is all just a **dream.**

That person over there,

The one that you see doing bad things,

I see them too,

As if in **slow motion.**

It wasn't me. It's not me.

It _can't _be me.

When you dream, you do strange things.

Things that you would never do if you were **awake.**

But…aren't I awake? Or am I asleep?

Have I ever been awake?

Maybe…the world before this one was a dream.

And this is cold hard **reality.**

Am I walking in a dream world?

Or running in a nightmare?

Is this how it feels when you never wake up?

Is this how it feels to be

**Sleepwalking?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! I've worked really hard on this chapter and would really appreciate if you reviewed it. I tried really hard to capture Mike's real feelings for Emily but at the same time I didn't want it to be too mushy. If you could tell me what your favorite line was or even a lime you didn't like so I can know what works and doesn't work, I would be really grateful. Don't be afraid to criticize. It can only lead to improvement. Thank you so much for your continued support and for sticking with my story thus far! You guys are part of the reason that I love writing so much.**

I had been asleep. That had become painstakingly obvious to me now. All my life, I had just been sleeping. Trapped in my little world of videogames, pizza jokes and friends, waiting for someone like her to come along and wake me. And then she came. And when she kissed me, the world exploded into life.

It was like a rude awakening from a pleasant dream, the feeling I get when a Nighlock alarm blares in the early hours of the morning. It was an icy slap back into reality, a reality where Emily was the only thing that mattered to me. A reality where I would have gladly thrown myself into the Netherworld to protect her, without knowing why.

It was like a fire had been ignited in my chest. One that threatened to consume us both from the inside out. Dimly I heard my heart screaming at me, furious at all of the torture that I was subjecting it to. But for the first time since I had been hit, I ignored the pain in my chest. I was too focused on the kiss.

Well more accurately, I was focusing on not killing her throughout the course of the kiss. I knew it was her first, so I tried my hardest to make it gentle. But so far, that wasn't really working for me. It was like I was a starving lion and she was a meek little lamb that was unfortunate enough to fall into my grasp.

Every muscle in my body tensed when she kissed me. My subconscious mind had already decided that in order to protect her it would need to be the most awkward not passionate kiss in the history of the world. That didn't even last for five seconds.

Without warning, I let go. I wasn't in control of my body anymore. The hands that caressed her smooth skin and entwined themselves around her neck like the roots of a tree, needing her to keep me grounded, they weren't mine. The lips that grabbed at hers so desperately, two little leaves starving for love and water, the tears that dripped from her face to mine. And most all, the heart that raced wildly inside of me; that wasn't mine either. Mine was always strong and steady. It didn't behave like this. _I _didn't behave like this.

It was like some horrible dream or some perfect nightmare. Watching myself be trapped in her grasp unable to free myself, loving it and hating it at the same time. A little voice of reason in the back of my head (that sounded remarkably like Kevin) kept screaming _Get off her you idiot! What the hell are you doing?! You're going to kill the both of you, and for what? One little kiss? _

But that was the thing. It wasn't just one little kiss. It was so much more than that. I had done many stupid things in my life that I had ultimately wound up hating myself for. Endangering my friends, my fellow rangers, _Emily, _but this was uncontested that most horrible most wonderful mistake that I had ever made. And Kevin could scream in the back of my head all that he wanted, but in the end passion won out. And with it, the monster inside of me had won out.

So I was stuck. Pushing her away and pulling her closer. Hating her so much yet needing her so badly. Wanting her to never leave but to get as far away form me as possible. My insides were torn in two by this _one little kiss. _I was like nothing I had ever experienced before.

It was a videogame with an unbeatable level. It was like getting caught between a rock and a hard place. Either way you went, you were inevitably going to get crushed. It was like choosing between two unfortunate and painful deaths. Faintly, I remembered one of my friends asking me once _Would you rather freeze to death or be burned alive?_

I had chosen to freeze to death. Because it would feel just like falling asleep, the world fading around me, my life no longer mattering and sinking into peaceful oblivion. But by kissing her, I had chosen to burn alive. Because that is what she was doing to me. She was setting me on fire. Scorching flaming blistering fire. And I was painfully awake. Awake to watch the world unravel around me. Awake to watch everything I knew about myself be turned upside down.

Because, as stupid as I know I am, I never thought that I was a bad person. I wasn't selfish, I wasn't cruel, and I would do anything to protect those that I cared about. But right now, I was being all of these things. I was being selfish to Emily, confusing her like this when the sad and horrible truth was that we could never be together. I was being cruel to her, and myself, by doing this to her, comforting her like I could protect her when in reality I couldn't even protect myself.

No matter how much I loved her, it didn't matter. We wouldn't work. Our entire relationship, just like our entire kiss was a carefully calculated math problem. Me + Emily + too little passion = a boring relationship. Me + Emily + too much passion = Dead Emily. Sooner or later I would screw up. I would miscalculate. I would overestimate my ability to control myself around and I would find myself gazing into unseeing accusing big brown eyes and golden yellow soaked in red.

I would hurt her. I would hurt her. I would hurt her. It was only a matter of time. All this ran through my mind like lightning the entire kiss. Everything her lips touched mine a jolt of electricity coursed through my body, making me grit my teeth with concentration, my hair stand on edge and my heart shocked into beating. It might have been the only thing keeping me alive.

But it was a tortured existence. More than once, I grimly thought to myself that it might have been for the best if she just let me go. If she let me die and slowly freeze to death. If she let my heart harden into stone, made heavy with all of my misery. But she wouldn't let me free. The kisses kept coming hot coals thrown at me repeatedly, bruising my lips and heart with their white-hot intensity.

In short, it was the best kiss of my life.

**Okay guys! What did you think? Please review. Here's the synopsis of next chapter… **

**Now that Mike and Emily have kissed, Emily is convinced that Mike is healing. But the truth is, Mike is more unstable than ever. It only takes one little thing… or one little person to set him over the edge. And how will Emily be able to help him when she refuses to come to terms with how he feels about her, or how she feels about him…**


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up in the morning feeling the happiest I've ever felt in a long time. Things could not have been more perfect. Mike was on the road to healing. Sure, he still had a little bit of ways to go, but he was definitely stable now. If he could manage to kiss me without tearing me to shreds, he could certainly handle the other rangers.

Happily, I deprogrammed the locks on Mike's room with my symbol power, the way that Jayden showed me how to do it. Quietly, I took a peek at Mike in his room and smiled softly to myself. He was sleeping on the couch next to his video game station. He had insisted that I take the bed the night before and he would sleep on the couch.

I had told him that I was completely fine with sharing a bed with him, that I trusted him completely, but he wouldn't hear about it. Even though it didn't make me feel uncomfortable, it really seemed to make him feel uncomfortable. He claimed that he didn't want to overstep his boundaries, but I suspected that it most likely had something to do with lingering effects of the curse.

Almost subconsciously, I made my way over to Mike. He looked so peaceful while he was asleep. I smoothed his hair back, the way that I tired to do right after he had gotten hurt. He pushed me off then but now he just smiled. In sleep, he didn't shudder every time I came near him. In sleep, he was Mike. It almost made me wish that I could curl up into a little ball and let my mind wander off to join him wherever he was now. He sighed to himself as if he sensed my presence.

Is this what it felt like him when the roles were reversed? When I was the one laying in the bed, unsure if I would ever wake up? I felt a pang. It wasn't fair for me to put them through all that pain. I should have braver, like the way that Mike was being for me right now.

I smiled proudly at my brave little trooper. "Don't worry Mike. Everything will be back to normal soon."

I hummed a happy little tune as I made breakfast for Mike. Pancakes, eggs and bacon, his favorite. Of course I knew that he was perfectly capable of making them himself, but I wanted to do something nice for him. Plus, it gave me an excuse to start training a little bit late.

I wasn't sure when Mike was going to be able to begin training again. Hopefully soon. It would be good for him to get out of his room and vent some of his bottled up frustration. On a training dummy of course. Or maybe Kevin or Antonio. It could even help him heal faster. Despite all of his progress, I was still a little worried about Mike. He was still clearly confused. Even though the Nighlock had clearly perished, it was obviously still messing with his emotions.

Everything about Mike had this intensity now. All of his emotions were amped up twentyfold. It was like he was a hormonal teenager all over again. He had all of this locked up energy and passion that needed to be unleashed. And I was the unfortunate one who suffered the consequences.

I wasn't like I minded. I liked kissing Mike. I smiled fondly at the memory. I enjoyed myself a little too much. That boy was an amazing kisser, not that I had anything to compare it to. But I wasn't going to delude myself into thinking that the kiss was anything more than it was. Mike had to practice how it felt to care about someone again. He was desperate. He was lonely. And I was there. I was the test dummy. Lucky me.

Apparently, the other rangers were worried about Mike too. When I left the kitchen to head back to Mike's room, I heard them speaking about him in hushed voices. I stopped in my tracks and went to go listen at the door, which was slightly ajar. I felt guilty sneaking around and eavesdropping on their conversation. But why were they being so secretive? I hadn't told them that I had let Mike go yet. And there was no way that Mike could hear them from his room. Were they hiding something from me?

"So what's going on with Mike, _mi amigo?_" Antonio asked sounding amused. His back was to me so I was forced to merely imagine the playful smirk that was now pasted on his face.

Jayden sighed. He looked perplexed. "I'm not sure. I haven't heard anything from Emily. I'm getting worried. Maybe we should go check up on them." He got up to go and two sets of hands belonging to Mia and Kevin grabbed him and yanked him back down.

"Don't." Mia warned.

"I really don't think that's a good idea…" Kevin continued.

"Yeah. They need their alone time." This time I could _definitely _picture Antonio smirking. "We all know how much Emily loves playing nurse and taking care of people. Well Mike's going to need a LOT of taking care of. I'm sure they are both going to enjoy that."

"This is no time to be joking around Antonio!" Mia hissed. "Mike could _kill _her! We all know about his… feelings for her."

"Everyone but Emily." Antonio chuckled.

"This entire idea is reckless and impulsive and stupid and just screams Mike!" Kevin huffed. "We should do something to stop him. And we will. But –"

"Not now." Mia finished. "As dangerous as this, it's _working. _And we need to trust that Emily knows what she's doing and that Mike won't hurt her."

"And that neither of them will do something stupid." Kevin muttered.

"The Nighlock said that even after he was destroyed, his curse would not be broken. But all he needed was for one person to break it on his/her own and then all of the other curses would be broken. If anyone can break free, it's Mike. And as much as I hate to say this, if anyone can help him break free, it's Emily." Mia explained.

"Fine. But I don't like it." Jayden replied.

"_Ah, el esta celoso." _Antonio dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Forget about him. Now onto more important matters. How long do you think it will be before Mike realizes that he might never get an opportunity like this again and bang her?"

The other rangers gasped, but not at Antonio's awful joke. I retreated from my hiding place, face burning red and came into the room with my arms crossed. I cleared my throat awkwardly and Antonio turned around in shock. His eyes grew wide and his face turned a shade of red deeper than Jayden's armor.

Antonio began to babble looking for an explanation, but with each word that came out of his mouth, his face got a deeper shade of red. I put up my hand motioning for him to stop before he passed out from lack of oxygen or died from embarrassment.

I glared at him and spoke in my best commanding drill sergeant voice. "I don't want to hear it. Let's get to work."


	12. Chapter 12

A few hours later, the rest of the team and I went out to practice and run drills. We were practicing our swordsmanship, which is my favorite exercise. If it had been an ordinary day, I would have been thrilled. But nothing about this day was ordinary.

All of the other rangers kept giving me really weird looks as I was running my drills with Mia. It made me feel really uncomfortable. I don't know what they were expecting from me; to break down and start screaming, or crying, or loudly declaring my love for Mike, but I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of knowing that anything was wrong.

And nothing was wrong. I didn't love Mike and he most certainly didn't love me… I think. I shuddered remembering the other rangers' words.

"_We all know about his… feelings for her."_

"_Everyone but Emily." _

I felt a strange surge of hope as I recalled their words. Could it be true? Could Mike really have feelings for me? I shook the thought away. _Of course not! _I thought to myself. What kind of ranger would be so stupid, reckless and senseless as to fall in love with one of his teammates? _Mike would. _I thought to myself.

But what would that mean for us? What would that mean for the team, especially in his present condition? Is that why he was so much more volatile around me than his other rangers these past few days? What if he couldn't handle being around me anymore and hurt himself? And if he did heal, how would we function as a couple? How could we survive in battle if we were too worried about the other in battle? How could we work as a team? How could I live with myself if something terrible happened to him because of me? If he got hurt…

"NO!" I shouted as I knocked Jayden powerfully to the ground. He went flying through the air and hit the ground with a deafening thud. He rolled over onto his side and moaned in pain. "Oh my God! Jayden!" I shouted. I raced over to him in a panic, my heart thud thud thuddering in my chest. Kevin and Antonio rushed to either side of him to help him up. "Jayden are you okay? I am so sorry! That was so stupid of me and I can't believe that I did that." I began to babble.

"_Ah dios Mio, chica. _That was one powerful hit that you had there. I didn't know that you had it in you. What were you thinking about?" Antonio shook his head in wonder.

"I – I don't know." I stuttered. I could feel my face burning up, liquid fire stinging at my eyes. "I – I wasn't thinking." I finally got out. "I wasn't thinking at all."

Their eyes were all on me, staring at me accusingly. I clenched my fist in anger. Why couldn't I do anything right? First I hurt Mike by letting him take that Nighlock's spell for me. Just like how I always let my partners take falls for me.

And now, because I was frustrated, just so frustrated and confused, I hurt Jayden, my leader, and one of my favorite people in the entire world. What was wrong with me? What came over me? I wasn't trying to hurt him. I never wanted to hurt anyone.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I knelt next to Jayden to see if he was okay. His bright blue eyes as tried to make contact with mine. I couldn't look at him. My eyes sank to the floor in embarrassment. I put my head down in shame.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. My voiced trembled. "I'm sorry." I repeated.

Jayden lifted my chin to him so that I was forced to meet his eyes. I had to look at him.

"It's not your fault Emily," he responded looking completely solemn. I couldn't do anything but nod to him. As I did, he removed his hand from my face. I sighed in a mixture of pain and relief. Something about Jayden touching me like that made me feel uncomfortable. In a strange sort of way, it hurt me. Yet at the same time, it was comforting.

"I – I have to go." I managed to get out. Then I ran back into the house as fast as I could.


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm throwing a bone to my Jemily fans here (considering that I harbor a secret love for the pairing myself). Enjoy, and Memily fans, try not to get too upset. It'll work out in the end. Mike and Emily were meant to be. GO MEMILY!**

I was huddled underneath the sink when Mia found me. It was the same sink where Mike and I had our first real conversation. The one where he told me to stop putting myself down. That was the first time that I ever saw him smile at me. I mean, he had smiled hundreds of times, but that one was different. It was warm and comforting and completely trusting… and vulnerable. I had never seen him look like that before at me. And now he probably never would again.

"Don't cry." I heard her voice pipe up from behind the sink. I smiled despite myself.

"I wasn't going to." I responded. She came out from behind the sink so that I could see her and she sat down next to me. She looked at me for a moment, puzzled, and then she shook her head in wonder.

"You're something else, you know that Em?" she muttered to herself. I felt a pang. I told Mike that at the Christmas party. After he had given his bike away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. I blinked in surprise for a moment. I was shocked by how defensive I sounded. "I'm sorry." I muttered. I had been saying sorry a lot lately.

There was a long silence. "You don't even know Emily."

I turned to her in confusion. "Know what?" I asked her. She shook her head with a secret little smile on her face. I blushed in rage. I hated that smile. It made me feel like she knew everything and that I was the baby. I was always the baby. I was the one that needed to be protected. That was why Mike had to jump in the way.

"He would do anything for you. Mike would. You know that right Em?"

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "What makes you say that?"

She looked me deep in the eyes. "It's the truth. That's why I'm saying it."

There was another long pause. Mia waited to say if I would say anything else. I didn't. She started to get up to leave. A few steps away from me, she stopped. Her back was still to me.

"Are you coming back to train?" she asked me. "You don't have to if you would rather be alone." I sighed.

"I'm coming." I responded. I got to my feet to join her. She smiled at me again.

"You don't know… how strong you are," she explained as she started making her way to where the boys were training.

I grimaced. "I'm not really all that strong. I'm not nearly as strong as you and the others."

She stopped in her tracks as we got to the outside porch and turned around to face me. "Don't say that. You are strong. Going to see Mike was brave of you. He could have really hurt you."

"He wouldn't have. I know it."

Mia shook her head at me. "You can't say that for sure Em. You have no idea what could be running through his mind right now."

"He wouldn't have." I said it again with more conviction this time.

"Look Em. I know he's really unstable and I know that you would do anything to help him, but he's really confused and he probably doesn't know what he wants right now. I just wouldn't want either of you to do something that could have bad consequences. All of us were uncomfortable with the idea of you spending all night in his room. But we had to trust that you would be the responsible one. Of course we don't know what to expect from Mike and –"

"I'm still a virgin Mia!" I shouted louder than I had intended to.

Suddenly the boys looked up at me in shock from my outburst. Jayden stopped conversing with Mentor and Kevin and Antonio stopped sparring. You could have heard a pin drop.

"Umm… nice to know." Jayden said blushing deeply. Antonio nudged Kevin with a smirk on his face.

"You owe me twenty bucks," he announced to Kevin. Kevin sighed, pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket and handed it to him. I was speechless in shock. Did the boys really think that lowly of me? I felt tears of shame welling up at me eyes. I turned to go and Mia yanked me back inside the Shiba house.

"I wasn't implying that at all," she hissed. "I know you wouldn't do that Em. But Mike isn't any high school crush that you can decide to just make out with at a park bench. He is a ranger. He has lives to protect. And now is the worst possible time to be toying with his emotions in any way. So I need you to tell me if anything went down in that room." She stared deep into my eyes with a sense of rising desperation. "Emily please."

I stared at my shoes. "We kissed." I whispered. "We just kissed." Mia opened her mouth in a perfect "o" of shock. She began to speak but she didn't get the chance. Jayden cut her off.

"You did what?!" Jayden shouted as he came into the room. He was red-faced with anger and his eyes were blazing with rage. "Em. Please tell me you're kidding me!"

My eyes were still down on the floor in shame. I couldn't look at him. I couldn't look at either one of them. Mia looked back and forth between us, biting her lip in worry.

"I'll be outside if you need me," she said putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. And then she was gone.

There was a long pause as Mia left the room. I felt as though the silence would never end. The interminable silence became uncomfortable. I just wanted Jayden to speak. To say something anything! But when I finally got my wish I just wanted to take it back

"God damn it Emily! You have the worst possible timing!" he boomed. I jumped back and gave a little squeak in shock. I was stunned by how loud and commanding his voice sounded. It frightened me. "I mean if you wanted to make out with Mike so badly then fine! But why wait till now, huh? If you were planning to honor the samurai lifestyle, don't do a half-assed job! Don't cave halfway through!"

"I –" I began. But Jayden wasn't finished.

"I just – can't believe how stupid you are! What would possess you to -? Don't you know how badly he could hurt you? And don't you know what that would do with me? What that would do to the rest of the team? How do think we could live with the guilt if something bad happened to you? What would we tell your sister? I made a promise to her that I would keep you safe you know! I just- can't believe that you would be so selfish to endanger yourself like that."

"I know." I blurted out. "I am stupid. I am selfish. I'm sorry." Before I could say another word, the liquid fire erupted from my eyes like fire eruption out of a volcano. I broke down crying, blubbering like a baby in front of the one person that I wasn't supposed to show any emotion for. _I really am pathetic _I thought to myself.

Suddenly Jayden's voice had gotten soft and soothing. "Hey. Hey. Hey." He crooned as he made his way over to me. "I'm sorry Em. I shouldn't have said that. You're not stupid. I was just being a jerk."

Despite the heartfelt apology, I didn't stop crying so he pulled me into a giant bear hug. That didn't help either. My entire body was racked with painful sobs that were so powerful that they shook both Jayden and me. I couldn't help thinking to myself that maybe I was the unstable one. I was a walking earthquake. I was out of control.

"What can I do to make you feel better?" Jayden asked me in desperation. You could tell that he wasn't comfortable with teenage girls crying all of their sorrows to him. Especially when they were getting tear stains all over his new red jacket.

"Make Mike better," I whispered into his shirt. His arms tightened around me.

"I have an idea," he whispered back. "But it's risky." I pulled away from him in excitement.

"Please!" I responded. "I'll try anything!" Jayden sighed.

"All right. I was thinking… the Nighlock tricked him into thinking that he hates everything that he loves. So maybe… if we showed him something that he would really hate, he would snap out of it."

I wrinkled my nose in confusion. "So…basically we should feed him Mia's cooking?"

Jayden cracked a smile at that. "No. It needs to be worse than that. A lot worse. Something that would break his heart."

I cocked my head to the side, genuinely stumped. "Like what?" Jayden didn't say anything. He just blushed. Suddenly, my eyes widened in realization. "Oh no! Jayden we can't!"

It was too late. Before I had time to protest his lips were on mine. For a few minutes I struggled and then without warning, I just gave up. I just let myself go along with it, finding no point in resisting anymore. As much as I hated it, Jayden was right. This might be the only way to save Mike.

_I am kissing Jayden _I realized numbly after a few seconds. It was completely different than my kiss with Mike. That was for sure. That kiss was fiery and almost painful in his white-hot intensity. This kiss was different. It was more gentle. More subdued. It was exactly the way that a first kiss should be. A picture perfect moment out of a Lifetime movie. A picture perfect couple with a sweet kind and mature boy with girl-next-door type best friend.

It was sweet. It was perfect. It was boring. In other words, I hated every minute of it. _I am doing this for Mike. I am doing this for Mike. _I kept repeating that to myself as I prayed for the kiss to just end.

With a jolt I realized the horrible truth. I didn't _want _to kiss Jayden. The boy that I wanted to be kissing was a few doors away still in his room sleeping like a baby. I wanted Mike, not Jayden. _Oh my God. _Thought to myself. _I – _

Suddenly I heard footsteps coming from around the corner. I heard training sneakers screech to a halt as they approached the two of us. I heard a sharp intake of breath and, out of the corner of my eye, saw two beautiful green eyes widen in dismay. I closed my eyes to block it all out but I still heard the sound of a plate shattering, and the sound of a heart breaking. Make that two hearts.


	14. Chapter 14

I stood in the center of the room, feeling as though the world was crashing down around me. I staggered back a few steps as if the kiss between my two friends was a physical kick to the stomach. I might have preferred it if it had been.

Immediately Emily detached herself from my friend… no rival… no enemy and raced towards me wrapping her arms around me.

"Mike…" She began to explain. I pushed her off of me and said nothing. I wasn't even looking at her. My eyes were locked on Jayden.

"How could you? How could either of you?" I managed to choke out in a voice thick with pain. Emily immediately began blabbering on and on, looking for some explanation for what she had done. Jayden said nothing. He just looked at me with eyes filled with pain and shame.

Neither of us needed any words. What I was feeling could not be expressed in words. Only in rage. Cruel animalistic and violent rage. The demon inside of me grappled for control of my soul. It wanted to hurt him. It wanted to hurt both of them. And what frightened me most of all was that, for once, both of us had that thing in common.

For once I did not cower in fear from the beast inside of me. I embraced it with open arms and an open heart. I let it devour me so that I would never have to feel anything again. Never feel this pain. Never feel this sorrow. Never feel this horrible deranged and twisted emotion that people called love. It made you weak. It made you woundable. It made you pathetic.

Emily was still pleading with me. Begging with me to see reason. Forcing me to stay with her. But I couldn't it hurt to much. A single tear rolled down my cheek. I closed my eyes tightly so that even more tears leaked out and surrendered myself to the blackness.

I hope that she shut her eyes too. I didn't want her to see what happened next. I didn't want her to see what a monster I had truly become.


	15. Chapter 15

I didn't shut my eyes. I wish that I had but I didn't. So I saw everything.

I saw Mike snap open his eyes. Where there was once vulnerability and sorrow, there was now only cold hard rage. He snarled like some sort of feral beast, glaring at Jayden like he was the prey and Mike was the vicious predator.

I realized what was about to happen to late. I tried to grab Mike's arm, to steady him or stop him but he threw me off and sent me sailing into a wall. And then, before I could blink he was on Jayden. Scratching and clawing at him ferociously as if he wanted to rip the poor boy into pieces.

"I will rip you apart pretty boy," a voice that was not Mike's growled. "Then we shall see if Emily can kiss that pretty face of yours anymore." I heard Jayden try to fight Mike off as he pinned him to the ground. Jayden was strong enough to keep Mike off of him, but not for long. Rage was a powerful force and Jayden was at a strong disadvantage. He genuinely did not want to hurt Mike.

"Stop!" I shouted pulling myself up from the ground. Both boys turned to face me. Neither was in great shape. Jayden had gotten beat up pretty badly and there were black and blue bruises all about his face. Mike was another story.

Mike didn't have a single bruise on him, but it was his face that frightened me. His face, which was once strong and beautiful, stern yet compassionate, was distorted into a demonic smirk of fury. This boy wanted to hurt me and he was more than capable of doing it. Against my will, I whimpered and the great beast underwent a painful spasm. For a moment, he weakened and then glared down at me with renewed hatred.

"I can't believe you!" Mike shouted. He was mad. _Really _mad. "I trusted you! I confided in you! I –" he choked on the word and then shook his head looking repulsed, unshed tears in his eyes. "But that was stupid wasn't it?"

"Mike," I pleaded, reaching out for something to hold onto. Something to keep him from leaving. Not again. Not when I had just gotten him back. "Mike please calm down. Sit. Please. You're still not well. You're… not thinking clearly."

"He shot me a piercing glare. "I'm thinking just fine. I'm seeing things more clearly than I ever have in my life. In fact, I'm seeing you for what you truly are."

I took a step back in shock. "Mike… you don't believe that…" I shook my head disgusted with the very idea of it. Tears welled in my eyes, the liquid fire stinging at them. I hated this. I balled my hands into fists. I hated Mike for making me feel like this. Mia, Kevin, Antonio, Jayden, all of them. I hated them too. For not trusting me. And most of all I hated myself. For not protecting him like I should have. I collapsed to my knees on the ground; my eyes wide open in shock. _What's happening to me?_

I looked up to see Mike scowling down at me. There was softness in his face anymore. No hesitation. This boy could easily rip me apart and I would do nothing to stop him. For a moment he made like he was going to hit me and I tensed, ready to accept his blow, knowing that I deserved it. Then suddenly he faltered. He shrugged me off as if I was so inconsequential, so insignificant, that I was hardly worth his time anymore. Somehow, that hurt me more than any slap could have.

"Pathetic." He snarled at me. And then he went for the door. I was losing him. After all that we went through I was really losing him like this.

"Mike wait." I called to him in a voice so weak, that I could barely believe it was mine. He shuddered a bit as his hand was on the door handle.

"What?" He barked harshly. I gave a little gulp.

"Don't leave me. Please." There was a long pause. And then he turned to face me. Slowly, he came over to me, as if he was a hunter and I was a deer that he was tracking. My bottom lip quivered a bit. _I wasn't even close to saving him. _I realized. That predatory nature, it had always been there, even when he kissed me. It had never truly left him. And it might always be a part of him now. And it was all my fault.

Warily, he knelt down next to me. He put his face close to mine.

"Your eyes," he whispered. I blinked at him uncomprehendingly. "Your eyes," he repeated. "I always thought they were brown. They…" he choked back a sob. "They look green now."

I nodded slowly, not sure where this was going. Grateful for the chance to keep him talking, I began to babble, "They're hazel." I whispered. "But they change color sometimes. Serena always told me they were browner when I'm happy, but greener when I'm sad. Especially when I'm crying. Almost like… the tears wash away the dirt clouding up my eyes so you can see the raw emotion underneath." I blinked in surprise. _Why am I telling him this?_

Mike nodded as if he understood. More gently than I knew that he was capable of, I felt him gingerly tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. "Green's my favorite color," he said after a while. He offered no other explanation. I nodded as if I understood. "Mine too." I said.

He gave me a weak smile. "I know." And then he got up to leave.

My eyes grew wide with fear. "Mike wait!" I called. "You can't leave now. You…"

Without warning, he grabbed one of the swords from the wall that were up for decoration and ran me through with it. I looked down at the wound in shock and gasped. He hadn't hit anything vital, though I'm not sure what his intentions were, but there was a long gash running across my chest. I looked up at him betrayal in my eyes.

"Mike, why?" I managed to get out between gasps. He looked at me intensely. His cool green eyes were filled with no remorse.

"Because I love you," he said simply." And then he was gone.


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay. WARNING. I'm trying to make Mike sound like a psychopath… but one that is still somehow in love with Emily. Plus, every other paragraph or so I switch back to the real Mike to show the struggle between the two Mikes. I hope it's not too confusing but I'll kind of be making it up as I go along. Bear with me here.**

Pain. Pain. Ow. Ow. Pain. Mike no understand. Mike ripping up boy. Mike ripping up boy real good. Why boy no feel pain? Why Mike only feel pain? Why Mike always only one who feel pain?

… _So this is what it feels like to be completely insane. Trapped inside my own mind Hmm. I didn't expect to be so aware of everything going on around me. I kind of expected to just… fade away…_

Go away now. Go away now pain. Maybe pain go away if boy cry. Must hurt boy more. Cry. Cry boy cry. Cry like Mike cried.

_Wow. So this is how a Nighlock thinks. I guess they don't think in coherent sentences. Then again, they're probably not forced to go to school down in the Netherworld. This is different than before. Before I saw everything that I was doing. I knew it was ME doing it. Now I can't even see what I'm doing. Now I just have to rely on the Nighlock's thoughts to help me out. And God knows how accurate those are. _

Pain stop. Stop pain. I order you stop. STOP!

_It's really dark in here. I wish I could see. I'm dimly aware of some stuff going on in the outside world. Oh wait! I see something. I'm in the kitchen I think. I'm saying some stuff to Jayden. Ouch. That must have hurt. I hit him again. Okay, I still kind of get what's going on. Looks like I'm not crazy after all. Shit._

Girl. Girl. Pretty girl. Pretty girl tell Mike to stop. Mike no want to stop. Mike want to keep ripping upboy. Girl sad. Girl scared. Maybe girl cry.

_That must be Emily. No, she won't cry. Not for me at least. Maybe if Jayden got hurt really badly she would. Like how she did when he got hurt fighting Master Xandred. Not for me. She wouldn't cry for me. She doesn't care about me. She would throw herself in a Nighlock's path for Jayden. She HAS. More than once. She would never do that for me._

Girl. Girl. Pretty girl. Mike no like pretty girl. Pretty girl hurt Mike. Pretty girl make Mike feel pain.

_Ouch. Tough luck. Been there dude. That pain's not getting better anytime soon. I can promise you that._

Mike will make girl feel pain.

_Wait. What?_

Yesssss. Mike will hurt girl. Mike will make girl cry. Then Mike will feel all better.

_Wait. No. NO! You can't! You can't do that! _

Girl no cry. Mike will MAKE girl cry.

_Don't! I swear to God if you kill her… if you lay one hand on her I will fight my way back from wherever the hell I am now just to throw both of us off of a cliff._

YESSSSSS.

_Nooo! Gotta get out of here. Gotta get out of here. Gotta get out. _

FREEDOM. For one wonderful instant I was thrown back into my body, only to see Emily's face looking up at me in terror. Instantly, I felt a pang and regretted my decision to come back. Even with the monster temporarily restrained, my face hardened into a scowl and bitter words flowed from my mouth without my control.

"I can't believe you!" I shouted. "I trusted you! I confided in you! I –" I choked on the word love for a moment and then gave up, shaking my head." But that was stupid wasn't it?"

"Mike. Mike please calm down. Sit. Please. You're still not well. You're… not thinking clearly," she pleaded with me.

"I'm thinking just fine. I'm seeing things more clearly than I ever have in my life. In fact, I'm seeing you for what you truly are." I winced immediately after saying that. It must have hurt her badly. But in my defense, the words weren't mine. Although deep down I truly believed them. Maybe they were mine in some strange and twisted way. Secrets thoughts and fears that I had pushed down into my subconscious mind that were only now being released. And the words were true. But they hurt. _The truth hurts _the insult monster had told me_._

It apparently did the trick. Almost immediately, Emily began to cry. I felt a pang. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come out here to protect Emily anyway. I only screwed it up. Just like I always screwed everything up.

_The Nighlock's words can't hurt her. But you can. _Mia had warned me. I flinched. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was, how much I loved her, but I couldn't. Not then and certainly not now.

I felt myself fall into the abyss of darkness again. The monster was winning. Why did I let him win? That was selfish of me. I just wanted to be free. Free of her. But now I realized with absolute clarity that it would never happen. Even as the monster's prisoner I would always love her. I might as well make the best of it.

Emily's voice awakened me from my sleep and called me back from the shadows. Looks like she'll always have that power over me. Fantastic.

My hand was on the door handle. Thank God. I hadn't hurt her yet. Or rather HE hadn't hurt her yet. A part of me wondered what was keeping him; he had the perfect opportunity too. _Well technically, he is me. A really deranged and messed up version of me, but still me. And evil or not evil, I could never kill Emily. Ever._

I knew for a fact that I had to get out of here as fast as I could, before that monster took over again. I heard Emily's voice telling me quietly to wait and I faltered. _Mike keep going. I told myself. Staying will only put her in danger. _But with a sinking heart, I realized that I couldn't leave her. Not like this anyway.

When I turned to look at her one last time, I had to hold my breath to keep form gasping at how beautiful she was. She looked absolutely radiant with the tears making her eyes shine bright green. She looked so vulnerable too. That was what I found the most beautiful.

I came closer to her in order to get one more look into those beautiful brown eyes, only to discover that they weren't really brown at all.

"Your eyes," I mused to myself almost unaware that I was speaking out loud. "I always thought they were brown. They…" he choked back a sob. "They look green now."

For a moment she looked confused, but after a short pause, responded to me in a voice so meek that I had to lean in to hear her. "They're hazel." She explained. "But they change color sometimes. Serena always told me they were browner when I'm happy, but greener when I'm sad. Especially when I'm crying. Almost like… the tears wash away the dirt clouding up my eyes so you can see the raw emotion underneath."

I nodded decisively to myself. A felt a strange sense of peace. If I was going to surrender to the darkness I wanted to remember her looking just like this. So beautiful and vulnerable and scared. With her eyes becoming this beautiful shade on my account because she was crying . For me.

"Green's my favorite color." I said after a brief you beautiful silence.

She looked at me with unguarded and trusting eyes. "Mine too."

I smiled despite myself. "I know." There was nothing more to be said. She would stay with the other rangers. They would protect her. They would keep her happy. And if not happy, then at least safe. I couldn't make her either of those things. Besides, I wasn't needed in the rangers anymore it was time for me to go.

Weakly I heard her call out after me and heard the scuff of her shoes scraping the floor as she tried to get up to follow me. Suddenly I felt a rising sense of panic. The monster was clawing its way up again, fighting for control. What if I couldn't protect her this time? I had to get out of here. I had to stop her from following me at all costs. At all costs. At all costs…

Before what I was doing I grabbed the nearest weapon I could find closed my eyes and rammed her through with it. When I opened them again to view my handiwork I couldn't help but be impressed with my markmanship. Despite my overwhelming desire to kill her, I achieved my goal. She was wounded, but not fatally.

Her lips parted slightly and she intook a sudden breath her eyelids fluttering in surprise. She looked detached as she viewed the wound as if it was not really hers. When it dawned upon her that I had actually hurt her, despite all my promises otherwise, maybe even intended to kill her, her face hardened. That vulnerability that I relished was gone now.

"Mike. Why?" She asked me. I gazed at her with no sorrow. I felt no guilt for what I had done to her. I did what I needed to protect her. _You might not know it Em. But I'm still keeping my promise. _Not even caring if she understood me or not, I explained my sick act of affection bluntly, the only way that I knew how to say things.

"Because I love you."

And I turned to leave her. She didn't follow me. I didn't expect her to.

I had gotten maybe a mile from the house when the anger set in. Anger at the other rangers, Jayden, myself and especially Emily. I clutched my chest overwhelmed with my feelings of hatred for her. I staggered and fell to the ground still holding my chest in pain. I permitted myself a few deep breaths, knowing that I wwould need to keep moving. Stupid girl! I wanted one last memory of her. One little shadow to take with me, to cradle me sweetly as I descended into hell. And she couldn't even leave me with that. Why did she have to ruin everything? Now I have nothing. NOTHING!

_You still have me. _A voice sweetly crooned to me. It sounded like Emily. But if was all twisted and wrong. Not the way that Emily should sound. I knew that the monster only gave me this voice to trick me. To get me to do its bidding. To follow the voice into the darkness. The horrible part was, it was working. _You have me and all your misery and hatred of the world. And I have you. We have each other._

Wow. So comforting. I was left completely alone with nothing but a creepy voice that sounded like the love of my life encouraging me to hate everything. My life sucked. But still, it was all I had left of her. Would it really be so bad being a prisoner of this monster if I still had her voice to comfort me?

Suddenly, I was engulfed in flames all around me. I was gasping for air. Gasping for life. I was dying. I tried to calm myself down. Tell myself that it was all in my head but it wasn't working. I was completely freaking out. I felt the monster claw its way up my chest and into my heart once more.

Mike back. Strong Mike Back. Weak Mike go bye bye now.

_So this was it. This was the end. I know now with a sinking heart that I won't be able to get free anymore. Now I have no reason to. Now that she's not around. I won't get better without my antidote. I won't get better without my Emily. _

Mike get strong. Mike get strong and fast now. Mike gonna hurt a lot of people.

_I know I should be panicked. But I find it hard to care anymore. I don't care about anything anymore. I don't want to save anyone. The only one I want to save is Emily. _

Pretty girl. _Emily. _Pretty girl make Mike weak. Mike no like being weak. Mike like being strong.

_Emily. No. You can't._

Mike kill pretty girl. _Emily. _Yes Mike kill her now. He do it right. He do it slow.

_Emily I am so sorry._

And it will hurt. It will hurt a lot.

_I have to save her. But everything is getting cold now. I'm freezing. I'm falling asleep now. I can't move. I feel so tired. _

Nighty Night Mike. Nighty Nighty Emily.

_Would you rather freeze to death or be buried alive?_

Freeze.

_But no. I'm not you. I'd rather burn in hell than let Emily get hurt._

Freeze.

_But that's not my choice anymore. I'm fading…_

Freeze.

_This isn't me._

You are me. And I am you. Now freeze.

_Emily I love you. Emily I'm sorry._

But what you love most you will hate most of all.

_Emily… Help…_

Who do you love most in the world Mike?

…

Would you answer if Emily asked?

…

Who do you love most in the world?

_Emily…_

So who do you hate?

_Emily…_

Goooooooood. Gooooooood. Yessssssss. Now kill her.

_Holy shit. What have I done?_


	17. Chapter 17

I stared at the wounds numbly thinking that if I stared at them long enough, they would just go away. I looked at nothing else but the pierced flesh that had just felt Mike's touch. I was not capable of looking at anything else but that gaping hole. It was as if somehow the blade was human suffering and misery and my skin was the Earth that had been pierced by the pain. And the red liquid that seeped out of me, the was the water of the Sanzu River slowing poisoning me. Filling me with its liquid fire.

Distantly, as if watching it from someone else's body, and not my own I saw the Kevin and Antonio wrap up my wounds, struggling to hold back cries of sorrow and outrage. But I wouldn't look at them. I felt Mia drape flowers all over my body and stroke my hair gently, as the lilies and lilacs fell all around my, fallen angels hurled from the sky. But I wouldn't look at her either.

And most heartbreaking of all, I heard Jayden crying by my bedside at night. Begging me to somehow come back to him. Pleading for me to snap out of my daze and tell him what had happened or at least look at him. But I wouldn't look at him.

I wanted to comfort him and tell him that it wasn't his fault. To tell him that there was no possible way that he could have protected me. No one can protect me from Mike. No matter what, he will always have that power to hurt me.

But I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. How could I tell him anything when I couldn't even pull my eyes away from the gaping hole in my flesh? I doubted that I would ever have the strength to look away. I would wallow in my pain and misery for the rest of my life.

Nights were the worst. I was unable to close my eyes but still I could dream. I could not block out the images of a blade being thrust through my chest, the monster that had taken over Mike silently rejoicing. Whereas somewhere, the real Mike was crying. Banging on the prison walls of his mind, a prison that he would never be able to escape because it was inside of him.

I could imagine him slowly losing hope. Fading away until he was nothing because he had nothing to hold onto anymore. I could imagine his beating heart filled with so much warmth and life slowly freezing until it turned into stone.

A dark question arose in my mind one night, as I lay in that twilight world between waking and dreaming. A sick and twisted sort of dilemma. The certain sort of game that children would laugh about because they knew that they would never need to make such a deadly choice.

_Would you rather freeze to death or be burned alive?_

I had considered asking Mike that in one of their question sessions. But I had decided against it thinking that it was too vulgar.

We asked more lighthearted questions, I remembered faintly. Questions that we wouldn't be afraid to tell the truth to, because they were meaningless anyways. The answers couldn't hurt us. There was one reason to lie.

But I remembered the last question. There was one question that I had lied to. Maybe if I had told the truth, Mike would be with me now holding my hand. Maybe he would have finally lost it and killed me right then and there. I suppose know that I'll never know.

Yes. I remembered that last question well. The one that Mike had never answered. I asked him it in my mind once more, as if somehow he would magically be able to respond to me. And I would hear his voice one last time.

_Who do you love most in the world? _

The answer came as a silent cry of agony that made my heart scream out in pain, but somehow gave me the strength to fight on.

_Emily…_


	18. Chapter 18

I was staring into space when the Nighlock alarm went off. It was like a blissful awakening from a frightening dream. A dream where I couldn't move, talk or breathe. It was dream where I just wanted to curl into a little ball and die.

I heard the bustle of the rangers getting ready outside. With certainty, I realized that I wanted to join them. I wanted to be able to laugh together when we had a victory and cry together when we failed. I wanted to be a family again.

With groan, I pulled myself out of bed, surprised at how weak I felt. I stumbled towards the door and almost collapsed, clinging onto the doorframe for support.

Hearing a noise, the rangers stopped what they were doing and turned to me in shock. There eyes widened in surprise. A silence hung over the room like an ominous mist. I cleared my throat to ease some of the tension.

"I want to fight with you," I demanded like a petulant child. Suddenly, I had a flashback to when I was small and I watched my sister go out to train by herself. _It must be a lonely life. _I thought to myself. _Not being able to play with the other boys and girls. Having to train all on your own. _At that moment, I was no longer jealous of my sister. I felt sorry for her. Sorry for her loneliness.

"I want to fight with you." I said to her then. For a moment, she turned to look at me in shock. Then her face softened. I think I might have actually seen her smile.

"Sure thing Emily," she responded. And so I did.

"I want to fight with you," I repeated to the other rangers. "Please," I added.

The others sighed in resignation and turned their gaze to their leader. Jayden was looking at me intently. I think that I might have seen a lingering trace of guilt in his eyes. You could tell that he blamed himself for everything that had happened. I tried to go forward and comfort him and he flinched away from me.

I sighed in defeat. I couldn't exactly blame him. He heard me cry after Mike had left. I had hurt him. He was going to take a while to heal.

"Of course you can come with us Em," he said softly. He tired to smile and failed.


	19. Chapter 19

A few hours later, we were back in the place that it all began. We were back to the place where both my life and Mike's changed forever. Everything was silent as death. "Keep your guard up!" Jayden warned us. He didn't need to tell me twice. I was ready for anything. What more could any Nighlock do to me? There was really only one person who could truly hurt me.

_Mike… _I thought to myself. Missing him was like a physical ache, and I was sure that the rest of the team felt it too. We were all thinking that right about now, Mike would be cracking some sort of ridiculous joke and we would all laugh. The tension would be eased and we would go on with the battle. We didn't realize how much we needed him to loosen us up until now. _Mike…_

The rangers and I continued walking, looking for signs of Nighlock activity. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. It was starting to freak me out. I waited to hear screaming and wails of agony, but none ever came.

"This doesn't make any sense," Mia muttered.

"Are you sure this is the place Jayden?" Kevin asked.

"Positive," Jayden answered.

And then suddenly, we saw it. A dark shape was lurking towards us, coming out of the shadows to greet us. We all steadied our swords and positioned them to attack. We had our warrior faces on. For a moment, everything felt back to normal.

We were poised and ready to charge at the monster. Our faces were filled with anger. No hesitation or remorse was present. We would clobber anything that came near us in a heartbeat.

The mist seemed to envelop the creature so that we wouldn't see it. But still, it made its way towards us menacingly. We gritted our teeth in concentration and narrowed our eyes.

"Are you sure you're up for this Emily?" Jayden asked without even looking at me.

My gaze didn't break and I answered him immediately in a determined voice. "I'm positive."

Jayden sighed. "I understand if it might be too soon for you. We can handle it. You haven't been on your feet in a while." As the figure came closer, Jayden actually seemed somewhat nervous.

I narrowed my eyes in confusion and had to fight the urge to look at him. This was obviously a test. Jayden wanted to see if I was stable enough to keep my focus. I couldn't chicken out and back down now. I couldn't let him or any of my fellow rangers down.

I couldn't understand why Jayden seemed so nervous for me. A test had to be the only explanation. I had fought bigger and more intimidating Nighlock than this one dozens of times. In comparison to others, this Nighlock seemed kind of punt. It was thin and lean and not all that tall whereas most Nighlock with bulky and hulking beasts. In fact, the shape of it seemed… remotely human.

"Don't worry." I assured him. "I have a lot of pent up frustration that I would love to unleash on this monster." I smiled darkly at this. This probably didn't help me look or sound more stable, but I didn't care. I was mad. I had just lost a ranger and my best friend.

I needed to fight out my emotions with something I wouldn't mind hurting. If Jayden had any common sense he wouldn't get in my way. He would let me heal myself and deal with my emotions the best (well second after playing my flute) way that I knew how.

My smile grew wider as the figure kept approaching me. I tensed in anticipation. I was ready. I had been waiting for this moment a long time.

Whoever came through that mist was in for a nasty surprise. He had caught me on a bad day.

Suddenly, the figure broke through the darkness and I raised my weapon in preparation.

My blood ran cold and my fingers lost their strength. The weapon slipped from my hand and I did nothing to stop it from falling. I didn't care. I was too focused on the figure that had emerged from the mist.

Hurt and confusion hit me way worse than a wound from any sword could. My head started spinning and I had to fight from curling into a little ball and leaving myself to die again.

But I had to stay strong. I didn't want to be a burden for the other rangers.

The creature was the most terrifying thing that I had ever seen in my life. It was beautiful yet hideous. With its pearly white smile like daggers that was curled into nasty smirk, rippling muscles that tensed as the beast prepared to attack and deep dark eyes that glared back at all of us intensely.

Well, not necessarily all of us. There was one person in particular that those beautiful eyes seemed to be searching out. And as they locked on my face, the smile grew wider and infinitely crueler.

"Emily…" The creature hissed.

I shuddered. Those words… that voice… it was the same thing that had woken ne from what could have been an eternal sleep. And now it threatened to send me back. I wanted to run screaming and scrambling for cover because what greeted me was worse than any Nighlock's curse.

With my now empty and weaponless hands, I took a step forward, despite the urgence of my fellow rangers.

"Emily don't." Mia cautioned.

"EMILY!" Kevin yelled.

"_Chica _you don't know what you're doing," Antonio warned.

"Em, please come back," Jayden begged. But he didn't matter. None of them mattered. The only one who mattered was the boy… no monster that was standing in from of her.

Knowing that it had her right where it wanted her, the creature narrowed its green eyes in triumph.

"Hello Emily," it purred.

Emily sighed and took a deep breath. This was the same voice that had made so many jokes and ideas and had comforted her in times of need. The hands that gripped the sword pointed at her. They were the hands that picked her up when she fell. The hands that hugged her when she needed it and held her close when she was scared. And those beautiful eyes. They had never looked so cold and hard as they did right now.

This was wrong. Everything was wrong. This voice wasn't supposed to sound this cruel and harsh. Those hands weren't supposed to be ready to attack and kill her. And those eyes… She tried to look fro a shred of her best friend in them and came up empty.

Emily sighed and took a deep breath. This was going to be harder than she thought.

Sensing her weakness, the monster addressed her. "Hello Emily," it said coolly. It was as if the voice was addressing an ex-girlfriend or some distant acquaintance from a forgotten past. Not the girl that he was supposed to kill.

Emily never broke his gaze for a single moment.

"Hello Mike," she responded back. She kept her face impassive, but on the inside she was crying.

_Mike…_


	20. Chapter 20

For a single moment, the world froze. Dumbly, I stared at the sword at my feet. I wasn't even aware that I had dropped it. The Nighlock…no…Mike, snarled at me. I looked into his eyes grasping desperately for some light or recognition in them. Instead he only gave me a cruel smirk. And in a quick feral yet graceful motion he lunged at me.

"Emily! Look out!" Jayden yelled. Before I could protest Jayden thrust himself in between the two of us. Biting and spitting and snarling Mike put all of his against Jayden, fighting to be released. Jayden grit his teeth trying to push him away. He had complete and utter focus on the task at hand. It was as if Jayden had forgotten that Mike was once his friend.

Jayden glared at the monster…no…Mike… with a cold and cruel rage. But Mike wasn't even looking at him. His eyes were trained on me.

"Mike…" I whispered. "I…"

He hissed at me and for one brief moment his eyes glowed red.

Something in me broke then.

"Jayden." I ordered in a voice so commanding few hours ago I would have scarcely believed that I could produce it.

Both pairs of eyes turned to look at me but I was only focused on one of them.

"Let Mike go."

"Emily…" Jayden cautioned me.

"Jayden I mean it. This is between me and Mike."

With almost superhuman strength, Mike thrust Jayden off of him. He then adjusted his stance so that he could face me.

I showed no emotion on my face. The creature…no…Mike… spoke in a dark and raspy voice that had no warmth in it but was still most definitely Mike's.

"Why so quiet Emily? You got nothing to say to me."

"There's nothing to say." I responded. I picked my sword up off the ground and raised it to his chest. "I'm ready to fight."

The beast smirked. "You have no clue how long I have been waiting for you to say those words."

And then he lunged at me.

I made no movement to get out of the way and let the full force him hit me. We went rolling on the ground still kicking screaming and biting. His eyes blazed with fire and fury.

I never looked away from his eyes. Not once. Not even as I reached for the sword that I had dropped in the struggle. Not even as his hands clawed at me, desperate to destroy the face that he once claimed that he loved. Not even as I raised the sword to his heart and found that it felt heavier than usual.

"Go ahead. Do me the favor," he snarled. "It would be a mercy with all the torture that you've put me through."

At that moment, I found that I couldn't do it. I couldn't hurt him again. Not now. Not ever.

Who was really the bad guy in this situation? Sure, Mike was a monster now but how had he gotten to be that way? He sacrificed his soul to protect me. And how was I repaying him?

Somewhere Mike was still in there. I knew it. And it had to be infinitely harder for him than it was for me to go through this.

My eyes widened in shock and dismay when I realized what I was so close to doing.

"Mike… I can't." I told him. "I just… I just can't." And that was that.

He could have killed me in a single hit if he wanted to. He knew that as well as I did. I didn't expect anything different.

And yet the boy that I once had cared about must have still been in there. Because for some God unknown reason he didn't. He had me right where he wanted me for once in his life. And still he didn't.

He couldn't kill me anymore than I could kill him.

So what did this mean? Would we be trapped like this forever? Always hating yet wanting each other and neither of us able to make the first strike. That to me would be a fate worse than death.

In a single fluid motion Mike flipped me onto my back and pinned me against the ground. He was always so much stronger than I was, even if he didn't know it. He had such anger and hatred I them. That alone could burn me to a crisp.

"Kill me. Please." I whispered, fully knowing that he wouldn't.

In a snarl of disgust he was off me.

"I don't want to touch you, even to kill you," he muttered.

That was a lie and both of us knew it.

As if my touch was fire that he needed to extinguish, he desperately hit at his clothes, snarling and spitting like an animal all the while.

For a moment, his eyes met mine. And then he turned and fled.

"Mike! Stop!" Kevin called.

"_Mi amigo! Espera!" _Antoino yelled out after him.

Jayden said nothing but looked after the monster with regret, yet some sort of silent understanding. He sighed and slumped down to the ground. His sword fell out of his hand. I didn't even look at him.

Mia rushed over to me frantically, checking me for cuts and bruises. Then after she was thoroughly assured that I was okay she bit her lip and looked at the place where Mike once was.

"He's gone. He's going to get away." I heard her words as if they came from underwater. I felt numb, yet as if I was being pricked with a thousand pins, all at the same time. After you are stabbed too many times, it starts to lose its effect

Surprisingly, I did not feel sorrow. Only anger. Hard, hot and blistering anger. Is this what it felt like to hate someone with all your heart?

At that moment, I was not sure. I wasn't sure of anything. There was only one thing that I knew for sure. This could not go on any longer.

One way or another, this would end tonight.

I could not tolerate Mike staring at me with such rage and revulsion, yet unable to do anything about it. I was no longer able to deal with the pain that it caused my teammates. And I couldn't cope with the fact that it was all my fault.

I reached calmly for my sword and glared at the spot where Mike had gone.

"No he will not." I growled. And then I charged off after him into the darkness.


	21. Chapter 21

**Merry Christmas Everyone! **** Unfortunately, this is the last part of my story. **** But definitely check out my others, Your Worst Nightmare, Prisoner of Love and the Lesson. I might even make a couple of other bonus ones…**

**I really love this story and am sad to say goodbye to it. And I am even sadder that the season is over. **** But that will not stop me from writing a whole bunch of fanfiction stories for everyone! Enjoy! **

**WARNING: Tell me at the end if it gets too melodramatic. I got really into it (sheepish grin).**

_There is such a fragile line between love and hate._

I ignored the cries of the other rangers as they begged for me to stop pursuing Mike and see reason. I was immune to all reason right now. I dashed off after Mike at full speed, hell bent on catching up to him no matter what the cost. What I would do to him when I eventually caught up to him was what I was unsure about.

I fought to remain focused and maintain consciousness, despite the blood that had been lost from my wounds when I was fighting Mike. But my vision began to tunnel as I relentlessly pursued him through the forest that he had slipped away into. Mike being immersed in his natural element gave him an unfair advantage. He could move a lot more quickly in the forest than I could. Yet I could not afford to give up. I was the huntress that was stalking my prey. And though my opponent had the unfair advantage, I could not afford to let him escape.

_I will have you. One way or another._

I saw Mike's shadow, which was barely visible off in the distance. Yet as I pursued him it grew larger and larger. The shape seemed to be in no hurry. Mike most likely had not dreamed that I would be reckless enough, or just downright crazy enough to follow him. Five minutes ago I had not dreamed that I would do something so reckless. And yet, here I was.

_What a nice surprise Mike._

My lungs started to burn with the exertion that came with keeping up with him while he was surrounded by the forest. I felt a faintness that I was unaccustomed to ever experiencing in the heat of battle. Numbly, I realized that these past few days must have exhausted me both physically and emotionally. To my surprise, I realized that I could not remember when my last meal was. Nor could I remember the last time that I had slept fitfully, without being plagued by nightmares.

_What has he done to me?_

If I had been more rational it might have struck me as silly that I had insisted on tagging along with my friends in the state that I was in. I was more likely to be a hindrance to them that an advantage. It might have seemed even more crazy to me that they, who were clearly in their right minds, had allowed me to tag along in the first place.

Or perhaps it wouldn't have struck me as odd. After all, maybe the best way to heal me was letting me vent all of my anger in the most primal way that I knew how to vent it. Metal. Steel. Rock. Stone. My naked weapon clanging with that of an equally formidable opponent. The heat of battle, the rush that came with relentlessly pursuing an opponent, it was all strangely exhilarating. It seemed to drive all other thoughts from your mind.

Was this why Dekker lived to inflict pain? Was this why Nighlocks relished every tear that the inferior humans shed? Was this why Mike was obsessed with making me cry? Maybe hatred was the freest lifestyle to live by. To not be weighed down by all of those silly little attachments.

Yet all these profound questions did not occur to me after I chased Mike off into the darkness. The only thought that rushed after me, pursuing me as I pursued Mike, was the rage. The cold hard blistering rage against the force that had consumed my friend and was threatening to consume me as well. I wanted, no needed, to annihilate it. Even if I annihilated myself in the process.

_Yesss. One way or another, this ends here. This ends now._

Abruptly the figure stopped with its back to me in the center of a clearing. The stop was so sudden I was just barely able to keep from colliding with it. I skidded to a halt just a few inches from my former friend. I was so close that I could smell the pine that mingled with the cologne that he always wore. I used to find the scent comforting and reassuring. Now it just filled me with disgust.

Being this close to him caused me to tremble with pure fury and hatred. I was shaking from limb to limb. Every muscle in my body tensed. I tried to remember what sister had told me about being a rock only to find to my dismay that I could not do it. I could not clam down. I was not a rock. I was a tree that had been disrupted by an angry hurricane. Or a volcano that was about to erupt.

I accepted with a calm and eerie indifference that I could no longer hold back all of the dangerous emotions that I had been feeling ever since the day that Mike had first gotten cursed.

The air was charged with the silent anticipation. And I felt liquid fire flood all throughout my body making me shake harder, just ready to explode. Not just to my eyes this time but to every one of my body parts. It was flooding me. I was drowning in it. I was dimly aware of the fact that I was breathing heavily. It was as if I actually was drowning and was gasping for air.

I had never been more scared or angry or confused in all of my life. I felt as if I were about to drop to the ground and start crying or screaming or yanking my hair out and gnashing my teeth. Maybe I would do all of them.

_Why are humans given the capacity to hate? Well, maybe it's because hand in hand with hate comes…_

I wasn't able to think anymore because with a great sigh, as if I were some pesky fly that had been buzzing around his ear, Mike turned to look at me. _MY _Mike. But not my Mike at the same time.

His face contorted into a snarl when he saw me, and he swiped at me, causing me to lose my balance and go sailing through the air. I hit the ground with a deafening thud and heard several of my bones snap. I moaned loudly from the pain and curled into a fetal position.

My body wanted to quit. It wanted to lay there and wait until help came. But my racing heart, made heavy with all of my fury would not let my body rest. Tapping into energy reserves that I thought were empty I hauled myself up from the ground and got into a feral looking attack position. I. Would. Not. Give. Up.

_I hate you._

Moonlight illuminated Mike's features so that I could get a good look at him. His hair was rumpled from our fray in a way I would have previously found appealing. He had several slashes across his face that looked like they came from my hand, though I had no recollection of hitting him. He showed his white teeth, glimmering like knives in some crazed demonic form of a smirk. And his eyes glinted furiously at me. Something in the way that they twinkled at me suggested that he would hurt me in a heartbeat and relish it.

_I hate you._

Yes. There was no doubt about it now. Mike was gone. He was gone. He was gone. He was gone. Mike was gone and this wicked creature, this demon with an angel's face had inhabited him. The boy that kissed me the other day, trying so hard to make in gentle despite his predicament, he was a demon. The boy who begged me with those desperate eyes to never leave him, he was a demon too.

_I hate you._

What if they were all demons? Kevin, Antonio, Jayden, Mia and Mike. Oh especially Mike. As I recalled their faces to my mind I remembered the little ball of light that the Nighlock had held out to me when he had first cursed us both. I saw the same images that I saw then and some new ones, Kevin putting his arm around me after a battle, Antonio preparing his grilled sea bass, Mia tending my wounds, Jayden rumpling my hair, Serena smiling at me, Mike holding me tight, Mike writhing on the ground, Mike kissing me, Mike flinging me across the room to the ground.

_I hate you…all of you… I just hate you… so… very… much…_

Before my very eyes, the pictures changed. The people in them that I thought I loved disappeared. The faces twisted and coiled into devilish smirks and the hum of their soothing voices grew louder and louder into taunts and jeers and shouts.

The images became brighter and louder each one more painful than the next. I snapped my eyes shut and slapped my hands over my ears to block them all out. Each images was a physical blow to the chest, each more painful than the one before it. I found difficulty breathing and hot tears rolled down my cheeks like lava.

Even while my eyes were closed, the pictures danced across my eyelids. I couldn't tell what was reality and what was fantasy anymore. And the pain. Such awful mind numbing pain. I heard the ring of a high-pitched scream in my ears without even considering that it was mine. I felt as though my skull was going to burst. The pain had to stop. It had to stop. I'd do anything. Anything. It had to stop… It had to STOP…

_I hate you._

I lifted my head at the source of all of my pain and a low hiss erupted from deep within my throat. _Him. _This was _his _fault.

The Evil One looked slightly taken aback. For a fraction of a second his eyes softened. A memory submerged under a sea of hatred began to emerge from my mind. I quickly forced it back under. It was easier for the both of us that way.

The look of compassion was gone as quickly as it came. As if reading my thoughts, the Evil One adjusted his stance to a battle ready position. I sneered. He wasn't going to fool me with those big green eyes of his. He wasn't going to get away this time. Not now. Not ever.

Suddenly, the Evil One shook his head and chuckled.

"Go ahead. Your move. Ladies first," he jeered at me.

I regarded him suspiciously. This monster had to have something up his sleeve. There was no way that he would so blatantly let me have the upper hand in this battle.

Once again, as if reading our thoughts, or as if we were being controlled by the same puppeteer with the same thoughts, Mike smirked at me.

"I'm serious. Go ahead."

His voice sounded deep and gruff. It hadn't occurred to me at the time, but this was the first that he had spoken to me since he left me to die in front of all of my friends on the battlefield. We had communicating this entire time without uttering a single word. We spoke a language of silence and resentment.

"Go on! Do it!" he shouted. His voice then got dangerously quiet. "Or do you not have the guts."

My hand tightened on the blade.

"You think I won't?" I snarled.

My voice had changed greatly too.

Mike just shrugged and turned his back to me. He jammed his hands in his pockets and went to walk away.

Ahh. I see. He though I was a coward. He didn't think that I would hurt him. Well I would prove him wrong.

I felt such a swell of hatred with that one disdainful and noble motion.

How dare he spare me? How dare he let me wallow in my misery for the rest of my life? HOW DARE HE?

_I hate you._

With all of my might a used my symbol power to hurl a massive stone on the ground nearby at his head. I hoped that it would break his skull. Unfortunately, I didn't get so lucky.

_I…hate…you…?_

Mike turned around to look at me, shocked. He actually looked betrayed that I would go to such measures to hurt him like this. My gaze did not falter. I took in his dropped jaw and stiff and rigid motions calmly. He did not make a single sound. For the first time in his life, the Green Ranger was completely and utterly speechless. He jerked around to look at me, his mouth open in an unspoken warning. He looked the way that that he did right before he was hit with that ball of light. He had been trying to tell me something… Tell me something…. Tell me…. Something…

_I… … … you…_

"Em…" The voice came out in a choked and hoarse whisper. Two brilliant green eyes appeared inches from mine. They didn't look angry or hurts of confused, nor were they glazed over trying to hide the raw emotion underneath. They were completely vulnerable and exposed.

_I…_

They were filled with an emotion that I couldn't describe, let alone experience. People had tried their whole lives to understand it, and to no avail. And the unfortunate few who discovered sometimes wished that they had not turned over certain stones.

_I…_

A more cold and calculating part of my consciousness noted that now would be an optimum moment to finish him off. But for a reason I cannot explain, I held my arm steady once more.

"Em…" The voice came again in a strangled and muffled whisper, as if someone deep inside were trying to dig his way out.

_I … … …You…_

His fingers reached out to smooth away a blonde strand that had fallen into my face. I noted the fact that his fingers were trembling.

"Em…" He repeated. "Em look at me," he begged.

_I … … … You…_

I did. I didn't want but I did anyway. And I saw. I saw everything with absolute clarity. And then I broke down.

"You worthless monster! You did this to me! Didn't you? Didn't you?" I sounded hysterical but I didn't care. I let my voice grow increasingly shrill and harsh sounding.

"I know the real Mike is in there somewhere. But You're not him. You're not him. You're not him! You're not him! And you'll never be him and I hate you for that! And if he feels even a fraction of what I've been feeling lately he must be in hell right now. No hell exists that is worse than that. So let him go! Huh? You hear me? Leave! Get out of here! Let him go! Let him go you big bully!

I pounded on his chest as if it were the walls to a cage. The blows became increasingly more desperate and increasingly more futile until I finally just gave in.

I collapsed into his arms, shaking and screaming and crying all at the same time. My entire body was racked with uncontrollable sobs. I couldn't stop. I simply couldn't bear the thought of us being trapped like this for eternity, everything that was once dear in our hearts turning into lead and dragging us down further… further… further….

_I…_

Liquid fire came down like rain and I made no move to stop it. But Mike did. Two pairs of steady hands wiped my tears dry and tried to plug the holes in my eyes. When that didn't work he just kissed the leaks and if someone they would miraculously stop overflowing.

Two sets of arms wrapped around me, encasing me in a viper's grip. They seemed to cut off all the air, all the sunlight, yet be all the oxygen and warmth that I would ever need.

_I must be in hell_. I thought to myself. _This has to be hell. _But it wasn't hell. I wasn't burning to death in its flames. What was happening to me was infinitely more real, and infinitely more terrifying.

Every time he tried to hold me close I pushed him off, yet when he moved to give me space I found myself yanking him back to me. I wanted every piece of him to be spread throughout every pore of my body; I wanted to inhale him like a fresh autumn breeze, yet expel him like some poisonous and toxic deadly fumes.

He was the sun he was the moon. He was the sky that kept me airborne yet the Earth that kept me grounded. He was heaven and he was hell. He was everything and he was nothing and I felt like I was going to explode if I had one more minute with or without him.

What was that old saying from that Charles Dickens book that we were reading the day I fell asleep in class? _It was the best of times… It was the worst of times…_

I guess what all those people said about the heart being tricky was true. There really was such a fragile line between love and hate…

"EM." A strong and sturdy voice, no longer tinged with doubt or indecision broke my trance. "EM. It's over. The curse is broken. We did it."

With one last heaving breath, the world around me went silent. There were no more voices taunting me or images of demon friends teasing me at the corners of my vision. There was nothing.

NO. HE was still there. Holding me against his body tightly like I might disappear into the thin air if he let go. I looked down at my hands to see that I was still trembling slightly from the shock. Whether that shock was physical or emotional I just didn't know.

In response, Mike just pressed me against him more tightly, crooning to me all the while.

"It's all right Em. It's all over. Everything's going to be okay now." He sounded so sure. You just had to believe him.

"No…it…won't…" I got out between sobs. The tears had long since dried up and melted away. But still the volcano shook on.

"I…I…I _hate _you…" I whispered barely audibly against his bright green shirt.

_I love you._

Mike just smiled and kissed me all over my face and neck. I didn't need to explain any further. He just knew.

"Shhh. I know. I love you too Emily. I love you too."

**THE END**

**Behold! The most awkward way to tell a guy you love him…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**I HATE/LOVE YOU! **


	22. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Hello everyone! I felt obliged to write a short little note thanking everyone for helping to keep me motivated.

To everyone that has ever reviewed my story, I would like to say that you for having so much faith at me. I know that sometimes it took me a while to post and that could be frustrating to say the least. But now I am finally done! :D

Thanks a million to my friend Diana for introducing me to fanfiction and encouraging me to post this story idea.

This is the first story that I have ever written. For this reason I am sad to see that it is finally over. But I can promise you that it will not be my last. I look forward to writing even more stories for you guys for a really long time.

Until then,

Meaghan


	23. Sequel?

Hey guys. I've been thinking and I'm still a little attached to this story. After all, it is my first fanfiction. What would you guys think about me writing a sequel. Please comment!


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